On February 16, Slumdog Millionaire's take at the global box office stood at $150 million. On March 1, it was at $200 million.How does a movie that's been out for four months make a leap like that? It wins the Best Picture Oscar.
Furthermore, it's almost certain that momentum has kept up since March 1. Soon the data will be in, and we'll know for sure. I predict Slumdog's final tally will top $250 million, meaning that the Oscar boost will turn out to be $100 million. Then there is all that DVD revenue to be gotten down the road. I predict the official DVD will be released around Memorial Day, just in time to catch the summer-blockbuster wave. Not bad for a small indie picture made in a Third World country with a script mostly in languages other than English with a cast of complete unknowns and many non-professionals.
Slumdog was doing very well before it won the Oscar. But the extra boost of winning the world's most prestigious and well-known movie award is big. It's good to know that the Oscars still matter commercially.
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