How Do 2025’s Oscar Nominees Stack Up After the ‘Barbenheimer’ Box Office Bonanza?

Hollywood’s 2024 was slightly less lucrative than the year before, and that was evident in the list of nominees for the 97th Academy Awards, announced Thursday morning.

This year’s nominees for the Academy’s top prize, Best Picture, have so far grossed a total of $1.7 billion at the global box office, just 60% of what last year’s nominees raked in, according to data from Box Office Mojo. 

Granted, some lesser-known films may draw larger audiences now that they’re Oscar nominees. U.S. audiences account for just 1% of the $14 million grossed by the Brazilian film I’m Still Here, for instance. And because most Oscar contenders are released as close to the Academy’s voting period as possible, most nominees have had little time to draw audiences. For example, the Timothée Chalamet-led Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown has grossed a modest $63 million since its December 25 release.

Like last year, two Best Picture nominees stand head and shoulders above the rest in terms of box office receipts. As of Wednesday, Dune: Part Two and Wicked have grossed $715 million and $710 million, respectively, and are the only nominees to break $100 million. The next highest-grossing nominees are the papal drama Conclave ($78 million) and the Demi Moore-led body horror flick The Substance ($76.5 million). 

It’s a smaller-scale repeat of last year’s awards when summer blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer towered over the category with their respective $1.5 billion and $976 million box office hauls. Together, the two films accounted for more than 80% of the $2.9 billion grossed by the Best Picture category. 

The pair—affectionately dubbed Barbenheimer—became a cultural phenomenon that, in the summer of 2023, symbolized the surprising strength of the U.S. economy. The two, along with stadium tours from Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, contributed an estimated $8.5 billion to U.S. GDP. 

Barbie may have even had a hand in the rebound of the U.S. IPO market. Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster helped boost the profile of German shoemaker Birkenstocks (BIRK), whose comfortable sandals are a feminist counterpoint in the film to Barbie’s classic high heels. Later that year, Birkenstock went public on the New York Stock Exchange with an $8 billion valuation. 

This year’s nominees may not have quite as far-reaching of an effect on the economy, but the promotional campaigns have surely touched corporate finances. Target (TGT) in October launched an exclusive Wicked-themed apparel and accessory collection from the film’s Oscar-nominated costume designer. Starbucks (SBUX) introduced two new drinks to its menu inspired by Wicked’s main characters, Glinda and Elphaba.

The domestic box office, which includes Canada, totaled nearly $8.6 billion last year, down slightly from $8.9 billion in 2023 and the first year-over-year decrease since the start of the pandemic. Last year’s release schedule was thinned out by the simultaneous actors’ and writers’ strikes that brought Hollywood to a standstill for much of 2023.