Every year, Oscar nominations create quite the buzz within the Hollywood film industry. Along with the nominations, come the crazy stories and statistics about each of the nominees, including these on each of the eight Best Picture nominees this year.

“Black Panther”

The Marvel film spent 13 weekends in the top 10 at the U.S. box office. This included nine top five finishes, with the last coming on April 27 — more than two months after its initial release. Marvel’s next blockbuster, “Avengers: Infinity War” was released that same weekend, and the leggy run for “Black Panther” certainly paid off — pun intended.

“Black Panther,” the third highest domestic earner of all time, has made more than $1 billion worldwide and is the first comic book film nominated for Best Picture. Thirteen was definitely a lucky number for Marvel.

“BlacKkKlansman”

Remarkably, there were no deleted scenes in the film, according to director Spike Lee’s longtime editor, Barry Alexander Brown. Lee and Brown have worked together since 1986, and this project was accelerated by two months so that “BlacKkKlansman” could be screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Lee’s gamble paid off, as the film received a six-minute standing ovation at the festival, kicking off its awards season run with a bang.

“Bohemian Rhapsody”

“Bohemian Rhapsody” has made more than $800 million worldwide. The Queen biopic has already out-grossed “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” “Deadpool 2” and “Mission: Impossible – Fallout.” With several Oscar nominations – and sing-along versions already released in theaters – that number is certain to increase.

“The Favourite”

Screenwriter Deborah Davis started writing the screenplay for the film about 20 years ago. Although the final screenplay has gone through several changes and re-writes (the original title was “Balance of Power”), Davis and Tony McNamara’s final project is a mark of resiliency. The two’s combined efforts created a script so witty and precise, Director Yorgos Lanthimos gave the two writers producer credit on the final film.

“Green Book”

In a scene when his character, Tony Lip, won a hot dog eating contest, Viggo Mortensen actually ate 15 hot dogs while filming the scene. Mortensen said that it would be easier to just swallow some of the hot dogs, rather than spit them out after each take. This was part of the 20 pounds Mortensen gained during production of the film, along with 25 during pre-production.

“Roma”

Fittingly, director Alfonso Cuarón estimated that he gathered about 70 percent of the furniture in his home from different family members spread across Mexico. This furniture was the original furniture used in his home as a child. This is just one detail that shows the intimacy that Cuarón put into making this very personal film, most of which is based on his life growing up in Mexico. (Honorable Mention: Cuarón used 45 camera positions in a scene where the main character Cleo — played by Yalitza Aparicio — is turning off lights).

“A Star is Born”

The hit song “Shallow” has spent 18 weeks on the Billboard digital sales chart, with five weeks at the number one spot (Ariana Grande’s hit “Thank U, Next” only spent two weeks atop this chart). This song is the longest run for Lady Gaga at the top of the chart, passing her hits “Just Dance,” “Bad Romance” and “Born This Way.” The song has put Lady Gaga back in the top ten on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary radio for the first time since 2011’s “The Edge of Glory.”

And Lady Gaga’s voice wasn’t the only thing garnering recognition: she landed her first Oscars nomination for acting this year, along with a Best Original Song nomination for “Shallow.”

“Vice”

Reportedly, this is Christian Bale’s peak weight from when he played former Vice President Dick Cheney in the film “Vice.” Bale famously dropped 63 pounds, a third of his total body weight, for “The Machinist,” before gaining back that weight plus 35 pounds of muscle within weeks for his next role in “Batman: Begins.” Bale has gone insane depths to get into his characters, but his work has certainly paid off. He already has an Oscar win for “The Fighter” — a role which he lost about 30 pounds for — and he netted his fourth acting nomination this year for “Vice.” (Honorable mention: January 30:  both Christian Bale and Dick Cheney’s birthday. Yep.)

Published on February 4, 2019 at 8:51 pm