Actor Daniel Day Lewis made history by becoming the first male actor to win three Best Actor Oscars with his portrayal of US President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's film. It was perhaps the safest bet among the nominations for last night's Academy Awards. As ever at the Oscars, there were those conspicuous for not winning: Zero Dark Thirty, which tells the story behind the hunt for terrorist Osama Bin Laden, did not get a nomination for Best Director and although nominated and a favorite with many for the award, Jessica Chastain did not get the Best Actress statuette. Overlooking Ben Affleck for the Best Director nominations has been widely described as an injustice and was joked about by the host, "The story was so top secret that the film's director is unknown to the Academy. Ben, they know they screwed up." In the end, his film Argo won the Best Picture award.

Argo, the winner of the most recent Academy Award for Best Picture, has been running in Romania for the last 15 weeks, but its box office gains are not among the highest. Only 47,000 Romanians have watched Argo, which was released in October last year, and spent a cumulative USD 250,000 on tickets, according to data from Cinemagia.ro. Meanwhile, the movie directed by and starring Ben Affleck which snatched the golden statue for best film had box office grossings of USD 129 million in the US, and USD 77 million internationally. Argo, with a production budget of USD 44.5 million, also won the Oscar for Best Film Editing and the one for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Lincoln landed a second Oscar for Production Design, as well as Daniel Day Lewis' record breaking third Best Actor award. Lincoln already has USD 156,000 in box office gains in Romania, where it has been running for only three weeks. Some 30,000 people already watched it. Meanwhile, the film, directed by Steven Spielberg, got USD 178 million in box office gains on its domestic market the US, and USD 66 million internationally. The film had a production budget of USD 65 million.

Silver Linings Playbook, which brought leading actress Jennifer Lawrence the Oscar for Best Actress in Leading Role, had box office revenues of some USD 228,000 in Romania, where it has also been running for the last three weeks on cinema screens. In the US, its box office rank is of USD 107 million, and internationally, of some USD 52 million, which is still higher than the production budget of USD 21 million.

Django Unchained was mentioned twice at the Oscars. First, Christoph Waltz won the statue for Best Actor in Supporting Role, then director and screenplay writer Quentin Tarantino got the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Django had one of the highest box office grossings in Romania to date, with some USD 557,000 and currently ranking 8th, after just 5 weeks of running across local cinemas. Over 100,000 Romanians have watched the film, which has proved to be more popular outside the US than in its home market, with a box office gain of USD 158 million in the US, and USD 221 million internationally. The production budget was higher too: USD 100 million.

Life of Pi landed several awards at the recent Oscars: Best Cinematography, Best Director for Ang Lee, Best Original Score and Best Visual Effects, and was the most popular in Romania, with a box office gains of USD 1.1 million and over 180,000 viewers locally. The film was also enjoyed more internationally than in the US, with only USD 113 million box office gains in the US, and some USD 470 million internationally. The film's budget was also high, USD 120 million.

The latest James Bond movie Skyfall only seemed to impress the Academy with its music, with two Oscars for Original Song – Skyfall by Adele and for Sound Editing, but it definitely impressed Romanian audiences, which have paid some USD 1.5 million to watch it. Locally, over 300,000 people watched the latest in the James Bond franchise, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig, which ran for 16 weeks in Romania. Skyfall was popular elsewhere too, with USD 303 million box office gains in the US and a staggering USD 804 million internationally, well above its USD 200 million production budget.

Anna Karenina landed the prize for Best Costume Design and was also among the popular films for Romanians, with box office revenues of USD 300,000 and 58,000 viewers in the last 10 weeks of screenings. In the US, it only got box office gains of USD 12 million, while  internationally it grossed USD 43 million .

The animation Brave for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film and was also very popular in Romania, with USD 900,000 in box office and over 166,000 viewers in 16 weeks of screenings. Brave got USD 237 million box office gains in the US and USD 298 million internationally, at a production cost of USD 185 million.

Anne Hathaway for the awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, for her part in Les Miserables, which also landed the Oscar for Make up and Styling. The musical, with a box office of USD 158,000 in Romania after four weeks of screenings, was also more popular internationally than in the US: USD 146 million box office gains in the US, and USD 248 million internationally, with a production cost of USD 61 million.

editor@romania-insider.com

(source of data: Cinemagia.ro and boxofficemojo.com)