The Best Picture Nominees were announced early this morning in Los Angeles and it is one of the best crop of films in recent memory with each having a deserved place on this illustrious list. Of the films still in theaters, The King’s Speech has the most to gain with its 12 nominations likely to inspire a box office boost that will likely see its fortunes increase from the $57.3 million in North American dollars its has taken in thus far. Of course, one of the most unlikely $100 million films of all-time, Black Swan is already at $83.2 million and is riding a wave of popularity fueled by Natalie Portman’s bravura performance that could lead to a final gross that ultimately surpasses that of The Social Network.
The Fighter which has stalled out a bit at the box office and 127 Hours which never quite lived up to its box office potential, could both get a revenue boost from their high profile acting nominations for Christian Bale and James Franco. This leaves True Grit (still smarting from its Golden Globe snubbing) to capitalize on its Best Picture nomination and Jeff Bridges second nomination for Best Actor in a row (after winning last year as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart) with a shot at becoming the highest grossing western of all-time (Dances with Wolves is still on top with $184.2 million).
The acclaimed Winter’s Bone has to get the award for the least seen film of the ten nominees as it currently plays in just 6 theaters nationwide in its 33rd weekend and a total gross to date of just $6.3 million. The Social Network is simultaneously playing in just 385 theaters and is also available on home video where it is certain to get a nice boost from today’s announcements; the film never cracked the $100 million mark domestically but is less than $5 million shy of the mark.
As for Toy Story 3 (the highest grossing film released in 2010), The Kids Are All Right (released all the way back in July) and Inception (whose director Christopher Nolan was egregiously overlooked for a directing nom), these films will forever carry with them the legacy (and the marketing plus) of having been nominated as one of the Best Pictures of 2010.
HOLLYWOOD.COM BOX-OFFICE – BEST PICTURE NOMINEES AND THEIR DOMESTIC GROSS TO DATE
Sorted Alphabetically – Grosses through Monday, January 24, 2011
127 HOURS FOX SEARCHLIGHT $11,309,393
BLACK SWAN FOX SEARCHLIGHT $83,741,344
INCEPTION WARNER BROS. $292,568,851
THE FIGHTER PARAMOUNT $73,000,926
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT FOCUS $20,803,237
THE 
KING’S SPEECH WEINSTEIN CO. $57,949,346
THE SOCIAL NETWORK SONY $95,408,473
TOY STORY 3 DISNEY $414,984,497
TRUE GRIT PARAMOUNT $138,507,277
WINTER’S BONE ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS $6,271,605
