The Price of Hollywood Awards

How much do the top movies of the 21st century spend compared to the number of awards they receive?

Every year the biggest movies in the industry compete against one another to claim the most coveted prizes at prestigious awards events. With awards for everything from the best costume design to scriptwriting, movie awards are serious business that can make the careers of actors, directors, and specialist movie staff alike.

While there are hundreds of movies competing for swathes of awards, these ceremonies are often dominated by big Hollywood blockbusters that often have eye-watering budgets. Having more funding than their competitors means these movies can afford the most prestigious actors and directors, the best scriptwriters, costume designers, composers, and special effects, as well as excellent film locations and sets.

However, while these big-budget behemoths are often produced to be as profitable as possible, does their financial success really translate into award ceremony wins?

To try and get to the bottom of this, we here at Giggster have conducted a small study to find out if a bigger budget leads to success at the awards. Looking at the winners of some of the most prestigious movie awards of the 21st century, namely the Academy Award for Best Picture, the BAFTA Award for Best Film and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, we can reveal just how much an award is worth, and which movies have received the most on the smallest budget.

The movies that spent the most for every award they received

Before looking at a more detailed breakdown of the financial stats of each movie, as well the total number of awards they received, we will compare the two against one another. Here we can see which of our selected movies had to spend the most money for each award they received.

1.  Avatar
    Spend per Award: $2,663,000
    Adjusted for Inflation: $3,450,000

As well as making the most profit overall, James Cameron’s epic tale of the battle between the forces of (alien) nature against imperialism and capitalist greed also had the highest spend per award with each one costing $3.45 million when adjusted for inflation. This is to be expected, as the film had the highest budget in our study at $237 million, resulting in the highest cost per award.  

2.  Gladiator
     Spend per Award: $1,746,000
     Adjusted for Inflation: $2,818,000

This epic historical drama set in the Roman era and directed by Ridley Scott centers on one man’s quest for revenge after a political power struggle leaves his family murdered and himself enslaved. The movie comes second in our study, with a budget of $103 million and receiving 59 awards making $2,818,000 spent per award when adjusted for inflation.  

3.  A Beautiful Mind
     Spend per Award: $1,568,000
     Adjusted for Inflation: $2,462,000

The second film to feature Russel Crowe in our study, A Beautiful Mind has the highest spend per award for a biopic, at $2,462,000 when adjusted for inflation. Based on the life of John Nash, a Nobel prize-winning mathematician, the film follows his struggle with mental illness and the impact this has on his family and friends.

The movies that spent the least for every award they received

Secondly, we come to the movies that spent the least amount of money for each award they received. These are the movies that prove you don’t need a gargantuan budget to make an excellent film that will stun critics and audiences alike.

1.  Moonlight
    Spend per Award: $18,000
    Adjusted for Inflation: $21,000

The coming-of-age drama Moonlight tops the list of films that spent the least for every award they received. The film examines the main character Chiron’s struggle with identity and sexuality throughout three stages of his life in Miami and the psychical and psychological abuse he endures growing up. This movie spent only $21,000 per award when adjusted for inflation, from a budget of $4 million, one of the lowest budgets in our study.  

2.  Nomadland
     Spend per Award: $21,000
     Adjusted for Inflation: $23,000

This drama starring Frances McDormand who also served as one of the producers is a character study of a woman who after losing her husband, house and job, turns to a nomadic lifestyle, facing different challenges throughout the film. Adjusted for inflation, the movie spent $23,000 for each award it received, from its budget of $5 million.  

3.  Boyhood
     Spend per Award: $23,000
     Adjusted for inflation: $27,000

Filmed over an astonishing 12 years, Boyhood is the second film on our list with a coming-of-age narrative. It focuses on the childhood and adolescence of the main character as he grows up in Texas. Despite the length of time it took to complete the film, it only had a budget of $4 million and received 173 awards meaning the spend per award was $27,000 when adjusted for inflation.

The most profitable top movies since 2000

Before we dive into the awards data to see who the biggest winners were, it’s worth comparing our selected movies based on just how much of a commercial success they were at the box office. Here we can see which of our major award-winning movies made the most box office profit.

1.  Avatar
    Box Office Profit: $2.6 billion
    Adjusted for Inflation: $3.4 billion

The movie which made by far the most profit is Avatar, which in 2009 made just under $2.85 billion at the box office, with a profit of around $2.61 billion! Adjusted for inflation, this would be equivalent to just over $3.38 billion today.

James Cameron’s space adventure was a global success with its tale of the forces of (albeit alien) nature fighting against the encroaching greed of interstellar capitalism striking a chord with audiences worldwide. The long-anticipated sequel, Avatar 2, is scheduled for release on December 16, 2022.

2.  The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King    
     Box Office Profit: $1.1 billion
     Adjusted for Inflation: $1.6 billion

The third installment of the Lord of the Rings franchise, The Return of the King is the second most profitable movie in our study. Released in 2003, the final act in Tolkien’s grand adventure in Middle Earth took a whopping $1.15 billion at the box office for a profit of just over $1.05 billion. In today’s money, that profit would be equal to about $1.59 billion.

3.  The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
     Box Office Profit: $804.7 million
     Adjusted for Inflation: $1.3 billion

In third place is the first Lord of the Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring, which saw Frodo begin his quest to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron. This first chapter alone took $897.7 million dollars at the box office for a profit of $80.7 million, which is equal to just over $1.26 billion today. Not only is this an immensely profitable movie, but it kicked off an entire franchise that spawned two sequels, a prequel trilogy based on The Hobbit, and countless other toys, video games, books, and merchandise.

The movies that saw the biggest return on investment (ROI)

While some of the biggest budget movies managed to rake in the most profits overall, films with more modest budgets can perform far better when viewed by their ROI (return on investment) rates. Here we can see which movies saw the biggest % return on their initial budgets.

1.  The King’s Speech
    Budget: $15 million
    Box Office Gross: $427.4 million
    Movie ROI: 2,749%

The movie with the biggest return on investment was The King’s Speech, the British historical drama in which the future King George VI learns to overcome his stammer through the unorthodox methods of his speech and language therapist, culminating in the king’s first wartime speech after the abdication of his brother. The movie returned a whopping 2,749% of its budget of $15 million.

2.  Slumdog Millionaire
    Budget: $15 million
    Box Office Gross: $378.4 million
    Movie ROI: 2,423%

Second in our study of movies with the highest return on investment is Slumdog Millionaire, returning 2,423% of its $15 million budget. This sleeper hit directed by Danny Boyle tells the story of a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. After being arrested and accused of cheating, he relates his life story to the police, demonstrating how an 18-year-old from the slums of Mumbai is able to win the game show.

3.  Parasite
    Budget: $11.4 million
    Box Office Gross: $263 million
    Movie ROI: 2,207%

Praised for its biting commentary on social and economic inequality, this black comedy thriller set in Seoul centres on a family struggling to make ends meet who plot to infiltrate the lives of a wealthy family by scheming to get each other jobs as unrelated highly-qualified servants. The movie returned 2,207.19% of its budget, grossing over $263 million from a modest $11.4 million budget.  

The movies that received the most awards

All money aside, it’s worth noting which of these movies received the most awards in total from the numerous ceremonies and industry events out there. Here we can see each movie’s total number of awards, as well as the total number of additional nominations they received.

1.  Parasite                                                          Total Awards Received: 307

The thriller with a heavy subtext critical of current social and economic inequality is the most critically acclaimed film in our study, picking up 307 awards, 56 more than second place. The movie won four Oscars and was the first non-English movie to win Best Picture. Added to this, Parasite was the first Korean movie to win the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, as well as being the first to win by unanimous vote at Cannes for six years.

2.  Roma                                                              Total Awards Received: 251

This drama coming in second place follows the life of an indigenous mesoamerican housekeeper for a middle-class family in Mexico City. She juggles the responsibilities of her job, helping to raise four children after the family’s patriarch runs off with his mistress with her own personal struggles from falling in love to eventual heartbreak and unexpected pregnancy.  

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, the film received 251 awards and numerous accolades for its screenplay, direction, and cinematography, including 10 Oscar nominations and won Best Director, being the first foreign film to win in this category, making it the second most lauded film by critics.

3.  La La Land                                                     Total Awards Received: 243

In third place, this musical is a love letter to Los Angeles. It tells the story of a jazz pianist and aspiring actress, as the two fall in love whilst chasing their dreams of stardom in Hollywood. The film received critical acclaim, winning 243 awards, including 7 Golden Globes and six Oscars. La La Land also received 287 nominations, including 11 at the BAFTAs, more than any other film that year.

Methodology

We wanted to find out which of the top movies since 2000 spent the most money for each award they received, and which spent the least. To do this, we first identified which movies won the most prestigious awards each year. The awards we used to select these films were the Academy Award for Best Picture, the BAFTA Award for Best Film, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.

We then used data from IMDb to record each movie’s budget, worldwide box office takings, and the total number of awards and nominations each film received. We used data from Wikipedia to fill gaps in the IMDb data for Nomadland and Roma.  We then used the US Inflation Calculator to calculate the current value of each movie’s financial stats, allowing us to draw direct comparisons between them.

Once we had gathered all the relevant data, we then compared the movies based on their total box office profits by subtracting their budgets from their total box office takings. Next, we compared the movies based on their overall ROI rates, showing which movies had the highest returns on their budgetary investments. After this, we compared our selected movies by the total number of awards they received, before finally calculating which movies spend the most and least money for every award they received.