In case you were too busy reading actual news to notice, the Oscar nominations came out this week. I’m embarrassed to admit that of the 10 Best Picture nominees, I’ve seen just one — and it was a cartoon.
Maybe I’ll have to check out some of the others. I certainly wouldn’t be the only person watching a movie based purely on Oscar’s seal of approval. Research by Randy Nelson, professor of economics and finance at Colby College, found that a best picture nomination can significantly boost a film’s ticket sales. As Nelson tells it:
[W]e compared box office data for every film nominated for Best Picture, Actor/Actress and Supporting Actor/ Actress from 1978 to 1987 with data for 131 “non-nominated” movies released in the same weeks as the lauded films. … Our results indicate that on average a nomination for Supporting Actor or Actress is worth $147,131; a nomination for Lead Actor or Actress, $476,617; and for Best Picture, $4,799,118.
If you ask me (and why wouldn’t you?), what we have here is a case of social norming — specifically, moviegoers responding to messages from the authority figures at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. After all, who knows movies better than the Hollywood elite?
There might also be a little “keeping up with the Joneses” thrown in. Would you rather say you’ve seen four or five of the Best Picture nominees or just one (or none)? Only a philistine would take pride in such cultural ignorance.
That’s why I’m slapping on some blue face paint and going to Avatar.













