Who will win Barbenheimer clash at Oscars? Here’s what history shows.

livemint.com:

Mint analysis delves into historical data to find trends on how often the Oscars agree with the box office, and what pre-Oscars victories say about a film’s chances on Hollywood’s biggest night. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives away the award, has never given the top recognition to the most popular film of the year at the box office in the 21st century so far, a Mint analysis reveals. Just three winners since 2000 featured among the top 10 grossers of their respective year.

The closest the Oscars came to acknowledging the box office verdict was 2004: the winner, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, was the second biggest earner among films released the previous year. A similar trend can be seen in the list of India’s official entries for the Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film before 2020). Since 1958, India has sent 56 movies to the Oscars, nearly 60% of them being Hindi-language films.

There have been only five instances when the official pick was also among the five top earners of the relevant year at the Indian box office. Incidentally, this includes two films that had the distinction of reaching the nominee list—Mother India (1958 entry) and Lagaan (2002 entry). The Academy Awards may be the pinnacle of success, but together with the Golden Globes and BAFTA awards, form the troika of Grand Slams in the film world.