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Box Office: The 10 Lowest Grossing Best Picture Winners of All Time

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | February 28, 2011 |

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | February 28, 2011 |


The weekend box-office didn’t have much to speak of — the Farrelly Brothers’ Hall Pass took the number one spot with $13.5 million, the lowest grossing number one in two years, while Nicolas Cage’s Drive Angry absolutely tanked, putting up a miserable $5 million for what may be the lowest grossing 3D movie opener of all time (TK’s review will be up shortly) — so I thought we’d take a look at the lowest-grossing Best Picture winners of all time, and place last night’s Academy Award winner, The King’s Speech, in its proper box-office context.

These numbers are adjusted for inflation, and they are the only only Best Picture winners that did not make $100 million at the box office (after adjustment).

11. King’s Speech (2010) — $114 million*

——

10. The Great Ziegfield (1936) — $95 million

9. The Last Emperor (1987) — $89 million

8. It Happened One Night (1934) — $86 million

7. No Country for Old Men (2008) — $74 million

6. Marty (1955) — $70 million

5. Crash (2005) — $67 million

4. An American in Paris (1951) — $67 million

3. Hamlet (1948) — $61 million

2. All the King’s Men (1969) — $60 million.

1. The Hurt Locker (2009) — $15.5 million.

(Source: The Atlantic)


* Currently still in theaters, and expected to make more than Gigi, Amadeus, Million Dollar Baby, and Annie Hall before its run is over, and land around number 15, pushing Braveheart’s $138 million to number 16, all time, as the lowest grossing Best Picture winners.