Every week, we’ll take a look back 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years into the box office past to explore how Oscar’s nominees were doing at the box office that weekend historically. All data is taken from Box Office Mojo. The first section under each year is the positioning of all Oscar nominees during that weekend at the box office. The second section is an alphabetical list of those films and the categories in which they were nominated. And to start each week off, we’ll be looking at the films releasing over the weekend that have the best chance of getting Oscar nominations and specifying the categories where we think they have the best chance at this stage of the game. Please let us know if you like our new feature or if you want to see more information and we’ll see what we can do!

This Year: Potential Oscar Nominees Releasing This Weekend

Battleship (Wide)

Oscar Potential: Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects.

Hysteria (Limited)

Oscar Potential: Art Direction, Costume Design.

5 Years Ago: The Weekend of May 18-20, 2007

Weekend Box Office:

14. Away from Her – $691,649 ($1,332,833 total) {week 3}
26. The Lives of Others – $172,924 ($9,951,853 total) {week 15}
36. After the Wedding – $94,179 ($1,028,927 total) {week 8}
45. Once – $61,901 ($71,464 total) {week 1}
63. Pan’s Labyrinth – $20,229 ($37,579,971 total) {week 21}
103. The Last King of Scotland – $1,798 ($17,605,861 total) {week 34}
113. Notes on a Scandal – $1,214 ($17,508,670 total) {week 21}
114. Iraq in Fragments – $1,099 ($197,234 total) {week 28}
118. The 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films – $688 ($334,687 total) {week 14}
121. Volver – $471 ($12,899,702 total) {week 29}

Oscar Details:

• The 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films: Animated Short Film; Live Action Short Film
• After the Wedding: Foreign Language Film
• Away from Her: Actress (Julie Christie), Adapted Screenplay
• Iraq in Fragments: Documentary Feature
• The Last King of Scotland: Actor (Forest Whitaker [O])
• The Lives of Others: Foreign Language Film
• Notes on a Scandal: Actress (Judi Dench), Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett), Adapted Screenplay, Original Score
• Once: Original Song [O]
• Pan’s Labyrinth: Original Screenplay, Original Score, Cinematography [O], Art Direction [O], Makeup [O], Foreign Language Film
• Volver: Actress (Penelope Cruz)

10 Years Ago: The Weekend of May 17-19, 2002

Weekend Box Office:

1. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones – $80,027,814 ($110,169,285 total) {week 1}
2. Spider-Man – $45,036,912 ($285,573,668 total) {week 3}
3. Unfaithful – $10,013,104 ($29,535,202 total) {week 2}
4. About a Boy – $8,557,630 ($8,557,630 total) {week 1}
10. My Big Fat Greek Wedding – $1,135,207 ($5,669,706 total) {week 5}
11. Ice Age – $1,057,726 ($72,369,005 total) {week 10}
14. Y Tu Mama Tambien – $597,585 ($10,235,525 total) {week 10}
18. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – $411,515 ($310,078,970 total) {week 22}
27. A Beautiful Mind – $171,405 ($170,498,541 total) {week 22}
29. Monster’s Ball – $114,605 ($30,998,671 total) {week 21}
38. Amelie – $73,800 ($32,921,581 total) {week 29}
39. The Time Machine – $72,523 ($56,684,819 total) {week 11}
40. Gosford Park – $67,905 ($41,192,760 total) {week 21}
46. Monsters, Inc. – $44,509 ($253,178,588 total) {week 29}
50. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – $38,455 ($317,557,891 total) {week 27}

Oscar Details:

• About a Boy: Adapted Screenplay
• Amelie: Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound, Foreign Language Film
• A Beautiful Mind: Picture [O], Director [O], Actor (Russell Crowe), Supporting Actress (Jennifer Connelly) [O], Adapted Screenplay [O], Original Score, Editing, Makeup
• Gosford Park: Picture, Director, Supporting Actress (Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith), Original Screenplay [O], Art Direction, Costume Design
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Original Score, Art Direction, Costume Design
• Ice Age: Animated Feature
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Ian McKellen), Adapted Screenplay, Original Score [O], Original Song (“May It Be”), Editing, Cinematography [O], Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup [O], Sound, Visual Effects [O]
• Monster’s Ball: Actress (Halle Berry) [O], Original Screenplay
• Monsters, Inc.: Animated Feature, Original Song (If I Didn’t Have You [O]), Original Score, Sound Editing
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding: Original Screenplay
• Spider-Man: Sound, Visual Effects
• Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones: Visual Effects
• The Time Machine: Makeup
• Unfaithful: Actress (Diane Lane)
• Y Tu Mama Tambien: Original Screenplay

15 Years Ago: The Weekend of May 16-18, 1997

No Oscar nominees were in release during this week in 1997

20 Years Ago: The Weekend of May 15-17, 1992

Weekend Box Office:

2. Basic Instinct – $3,044,895 ($93,721,689 total) {week 9}
5. The Player – $1,539,745 ($9,752,053 total) {week 6}
7. My Cousin Vinny – $1,052,375 ($45,960,317 total) {week 10}
999. Hook – $103,458 ($118,876,789 total) {week 23}
999. Howards End – $299,864 ($2,578,490 total) {week 10}

Oscar Details:

• Basic Instinct: Original Score, Editing
• Hook: Original Song (“When You’re Alone”), Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup, Visual Effects
• Howards End: Picture, Director, Actress (Emma Thompson) [O], Supporting Actress (Vanessa Redgrave), Adapted Screenplay [O], Original Score, Cinematography, Art Direction [O], Costume Design
• My Cousin Vinny: Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei) [O]
• The Player: Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing

25 Years Ago: The Weekend of May 15-17, 1987

Weekend Box Office:

7. Platoon – $1,185,238 ($127,551,060 total) {week 22}

Oscar Details:

• Platoon: Picture [O], Director [O], Supporting Actor (Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe), Original Screenplay, Editing [O], Cinematography, Sound [O]

30 Years Ago: The Weekend of May 14-16, 1982

Weekend Box Office:

6. Chariots of Fire – $1,378,032 ($49,113,957 total) {week 34}
7. Victor/Victoria – $1,185,550 ($16,016,573 total) {week 9}
9. On Golden Pond – $718,469 ($103,559,412 total) {week 24}
12. Quest for Fire – $379,301 ($20,050,296 total) {week 14}

Oscar Details:

• Chariots of Fire: Picture [O], Director, Supporting Actor (Ian Holm), Original Screenplay [O], Original Score [O], Editing, Costume Design [O]
• On Golden Pond: Picture, Director, Actor (Henry Fonda) [O], Actress (Katharine Hepburn) [O], Supporting Actress (Jane Fonda), Adapted Screenplay [O], Original Score, Editing, Cinematography, Sound
• Quest for Fire: Makeup [O]
• Victor/Victoria: Actress (Julie Andrews), Supporting Actor (Robert Preston), Supporting Actress (Lesley Ann Warren), Adapted Screenplay, Original Song Score [O], Art Direction, Costume Design