Bump and grind

While snarky pundits and websites devote themselves to tracking the minutiae of the Oscars and other awards, the moviegoing public doesn't appear to put much stock in the Academy Awards anymore.

Sure, an Oscar nomination raises awareness for select movies that otherwise might have fallen by the wayside, allowing those pictures somewhat steady business in theaters through the awards telecast.

But rarely do those same pictures creep into the mainstream consciousness. Their time in the spotlight is limited mostly to the period between the nominations announcement and the awards show.

This year is shaping up to be more of the same — only less.

In the first weekend since Oscar nominations were announced, the four best picture nominees still in theaters received only modest boosts at the box office.

Nomination front-runner "Brokeback Mountain" actually retreated 8% to $6 million, despite a significant expansion to 2,089 theaters. With $60.1 million in the till, what once looked like a lock to cross the $100 million mark is looking more like a long shot.

"Capote" went nationwide for the first time since it began its successful platform release in September. The result was a marginal improvement — $2.3 million at 1,239 theaters. And this was the nominee that had the most to gain, given how few people had seen it.

"Good Night, and Good Luck" re-emerged in wide release to little avail, mustering $1.5 million at 929 theaters, while the faded "Munich" was flat over last weekend with $1.7 million.

Best picture shutout "Walk the Line" was arguably more impressive with its 8% jump to $3.3 million. Of course, the Johnny Cash biopic was already a hit without help from Oscar; the picture's total gross now stands at $110.6 million.

By comparison, last year's post-nomination jumps seem monumental, especially since the movies were a little older than this year's and more widely seen. "Million Dollar Baby" had its first exposure to a nationwide audience and made $12.3 million, while the other four nominees — "The Aviator," "Sideways," "Finding Neverland" and "Ray" — expanded and enjoyed sizable boosts in business.

To be fair, this year's crop faced off against the Super Bowl, which always hits the Sunday box office hard. On average, movies tend to drop more than 60% from Saturday to Sunday opposite the big game, and this year's best picture nominees were no exception.

For an apples-to-apples comparison, the last time the post-nominations weekend coincided with the Super Bowl was in 2004, and the nominated movies took it in stride. "Mystic River" jumped 30% with no major expansion, while "Lost in Translation" and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" expanded with more relative oomph than "Capote" and "Good Night, and Good Luck." That year was also the last time the academy nominated a popular array of pictures.

At its best, the Oscars celebrate the movies in glamorous fashion. And while people still respond to the glamour, they don't seem to be connecting with the films themselves.

Which makes you wonder about the academy's continued efforts to mine little-seen treasures. If the weekend box office is any indication, their insular focus is taking a toll.

Will the best picture candidates rebound between now and March 5? Hollywood better hope so, or else it might only be those snarky pundits and industry types tuning in.