The Oscars 2018 race is in its last leg and the final results will be announced this weekend. Naturally, cine buffs across the globe are waiting with bated breath. And so are film studios, as winning the coveted statuette lifts the fortunes of big players.
A film’s box office collection immediately increases after the nominations and a win gives it a further boost. Moreover, an increase in sale of DVDs, streaming and satellite rights add to revenues. Needless to say, a lot remains at stake for all production and distribution behemoths before the winners are announced.
Fox Holds the Nominations Edge
Tension is mounting among films studios as the gala night approaches and organizers are taking extra care to avoid a repetition of last year’s drama, when the wrong movie was announced as the winner for the best picture!
Coming back to the story, Fox Searchlight along with 20th Century Fox, a subsidiary of Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. FOXA, leads this year’s race with 27 nominations.
That certainly is an astounding figure and a big lead, given that Focus Features and Universal Pictures, owned by Comcast Corporation CMCSA through Universal Pictures together earned 18 nominations, followed by Warner Bros., a division of Time Warner Inc. TWX, with 14 nominations.
One needs to wait a few more days to see which studio walks away with the maximum number of trophies, but Fox undoubtedly has an edge over others, with Shape of Water leading with 13 nominations. The studio’s other production, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, too has been nominated in seven categories, including best picture.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, owned by Walt Disney Company DIS, which had a robust 2017, registering revenues of $2.41 billion domestically, earned 10 nominations. Disney sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Disney’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which set new box office records and managed to collect more than $618 million as of Feb 25, 2018, has managed to earn only four nominations. Interestingly, despite 27 nominations, Fox came in fourth in 2017, in terms of total domestic box office gross.
Oscar Nominations Boost Revenues
It goes without saying that box office results are not deciding factors when it comes to winning an Oscar. But a win definitely gives box-office collection a renewed thrust. An Oscar win creates more interest among filmgoers, which make producers look for more avenues to maximize revenues by releasing the film in more theatres. Not only a win, in fact, just an Oscar nomination is enough to shower fortunes on a film.
According to ticketing site Fandango, which compared the nominees’ total sales for the entire day of Jan 22, a day before the Oscar nominations were announced, total sales for Shape of Water saw a 241% increase in ticket sales during the entire day of Jan 23. Meanwhile, ticket sales for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri shot up 102%.
On the other hand, The Post and Darkest Hour ticket sales saw the lowest increases of 46% each, still a huge jump. This is a clear indication of the impact that Oscar nominations have on future ticket sales.
Beyond the Studios
It’s not only the studios that have a lot at stake pre and post Oscars. The Academy Awards mean a lot to others behind a film’s win. This has become increasingly true since going to the movies has become a whole new experience altogether and the audience is ready to shell out more for a better experience that 3D or Imax offers. Imax Corporation IMAX certainly has been a game changer when it comes to movie watching. By late 2017, as many as 1,302 Imax theatre systems were installed in 1,203 commercial multiplexes worldwide.
Of the Imax films nominated this year, Dunkirk and Blade Runner 2049 lead the pack, with eight and five nominations, respectively. In total, Imax has 11 films with a total of 26 nominations, including money churners like Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Beauty and the Beast.
Another company that will have its eyes glued on Oscars is Dolby Laboratories DLB. Today, the majority of films studios depend on Dolby for better sound. This year, the company has as many as 12 films nominated for the Oscars in various categories.
Revenue-Churning Machine
The wait for the star-studded Oscar night is just days away and studios are anxious about the final announcement. A number of big films are already fighting it out for the top spot in different categories, which will finally decide the fortunes of the film studios. Much like the nominations, which saw a rise in ticket sales of most of the films making it to the list, the winners too are expected to push up revenues for the respective studios.
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