They’re winning awards, they also made money

As a crop, this year’s nine best picture nominees have been one of the most talk-provoking, Op-Ed-generating bunches in recent Oscar history. From Argo to Life of Pi, they’ve largely been popular at the box office too.

The movies have been debated, criticised, mulled over and tweeted. Above all, they’ve been relevant.

That hasn’t always been the case, particularly in years where most best-picture candidates have struggled to surpass $100 million at the domestic box office. Last year, of the nine nominees, only The Help managed to pass that threshold. This year, five have (Argo, Les Miserables, Lincoln, Django and Life of Pi) and two more are very close (Zero Dark Thirty and Silver Linings Playbook).

Ang Lee’s Life of Pi has proved an international juggernaut, approaching $600 million worldwide.

Part of what makes this year’s class remarkable is that they aren’t obvious box-office draws. Westerns are supposed to be dated. Excessively detailed stories about congressional politics aren’t usually popcorn-munching hits. Religious-minded films centered on an unknown young actor and a digital tiger adrift on a boat don’t typically steamroll like a superhero blockbuster.

“The movies worked,” Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Co, which released Silver Linings Playbook and Django Unchained, said at a recent Producers’ Guild of America event. He called the best picture

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