Oscar gives Argo a box office bump

A scene from Ben Affleck's Iran hostage drama Argo which won Best Picture. Source: Supplied

Ben Affleck (C), George Clooney (R) and Grant Heslov celebrate in the press room after winning the trophy for Best Picture for "Argo" during the 85th Annual Academy Awards on February 24, 2013 in Hollywood, California. AFP PHOTO / JOE KLAMAR Source: AFP

THE Academy Awards gave Best Picture winner Argo a bump at the Australian box office, but the Oscars buzz did not translate into ticket sales for other films.

Director and star Ben Affleck’s drama - based on the true story of how a CIA agent smuggled hostages out of Iran under the guise of making a Hollywood sci-fi movie - added 29 screens after its Oscar win and rose 87 per cent from its previous weekend’s takings to move back up the box office chart to No.13.

It had been on the way out of the chart after 19 weeks of release. Its post-Oscars tally has pushed its gross in Australia past $12 million.

Silver Linings Playbook - for which Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress - stayed steady, dropping just 1 per cent from its previous weekend. It came in at No.2 for the weekend overall behind new release romantic comedy I Give it a Year, starring Australia’s Rose Byrne and Simon Baker.

Also holding near steady was Life of Pi (Best Director for Ang Lee), which added four screens and was only down eight per cent on the previous weekend.

Lincoln (Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis) dropped 22 per cent; Django Unchained (Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz and Best Screenplay for Quentin Tarantino) was down 24 per cent.

Les Miserables (Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway) dropped 14 per cent and appears to have almost sung its last breath at the Aussie box office.

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