More on Oscar and box office

Here are the domestic box office figures for the last three years of Best Picture nominees, according to Box Office Mojo. As you will see, this year's crop has already outperformed the other two at the box office. And There Will Be Blood and Juno are still in their primary runs. Juno is still in the top 10.

2005
Brokeback Mountain $83.0 million
Capote $28.8 million
Munich $47.4 million
Crash $54.6 million
Good Night, and Good Luck $31.6 million
Total $245.3 million

2006
The Departed $132.4 million
Little Miss Sunshine $59.9 million
Letters from Iwo Jima $13.8 million
The Queen $56.4 million
Babel $34.3 million
Total $296.8 million

2007
Juno $127.4 million
No Country for Old Men $62.4 million
Atonement $48.5 million
Michael Clayton $48.1 million
There Will Be Blood $33.1 million
Total $319.4 million

The other years earlier in this decade did outperform this year. That's partly but not entirely due to the Lord of the Rings series. But this is far from a group of box office busts.