How Much is an Oscar Really Worth?

Credit: StephenFellows.com

How much is an really Oscar worth? Though it takes a few extra steps to even be eligible for the Oscars, especially for even a consideration for Best Picture, is it worth it to even take the steps to the Oscar?

The short answer is yes, in almost any case, that is if you can make the cut for nominations. Ira Kalb from Business Insider crunched the numbers based on a Ibis Study and found that within the past five Best Picture winners alone they often saw a 486% return on investment. Though this is considering that, on average, most Oscar winners cost only around $17 million to make, they aren’t some over budget film such as The Avengers or Avatar, they’re smaller, more independent art films rather than some box office success. Though a return of $86 million isn’t truly a box office loss then either, is it?

These numbers do translate however to big budget films that take Best Picture, most notably is Titanic, which on a $200 million budget in 1997, almost unheard of by then, made $2.2 billion back in the box office, though I doubt the Oscar did much of that work.

But is it still worth to even try? Well nominees still make a quick profit from their nomination alone. Based on the same report by Kalb, a nomination alone brought in a 247% margin for revenue in the box office, which is no laughing matter for small films. The King’s Speech was only estimated to make $30 million worldwide, but with twelve nominations that changed to $200 million, and by the end of the day, with Oscars in tow, it ended at $427 million in pure revenue gold.

But only ten are selected for official nomination, so how should you, the directors, distribute your funds to make the Oscar dream reality?