Oscar winner Argo among least watched films in Romania, winner of Best Song gets lion's share of local box office

Actor Daniel Day Lewis made history by becoming the first male actor to win three Best Actor Oscars with his portrayal of US President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's film. It was perhaps the safest bet among the nominations for last night's Academy Awards. As ever at the Oscars, there were those conspicuous for not winning: Zero Dark Thirty, which tells the story behind the hunt for terrorist Osama Bin Laden, did not get a nomination for Best Director and although nominated and a favorite with many for the award, Jessica Chastain did not get the Best Actress statuette. Overlooking Ben Affleck for the Best Director nominations has been widely described as an injustice and was joked about by the host, "The story was so top secret that the film's director is unknown to the Academy. Ben, they know they screwed up." In the end, his film Argo won the Best Picture award. Argo, the winner of the most recent Academy Award for Best Picture, has been running in Romania for the last 15 weeks, but its box office gains are not among the highest. Only 47,000 Romanians have watched Argo, which was released in October last year, and spent a cumulative USD 250,000 on tickets, according to data from Cinemagia.ro. Meanwhile, the movie directed by and starring Ben Affleck which snatched the golden statue for best film had box office grossings of USD 129 million in the US, and USD 77 million internationally. Argo, with a production budget of USD 44.5 million, also won the Oscar for Best Film Editing and the one for Best Adapted Screenplay. Lincoln landed a second Oscar for Production Design, as well as Daniel Day Lewis' record breaking third Best Actor award. Lincoln already has USD 156,000 in box office gains in Romania, where it has been running for only three weeks. Some 30,000 people already watched it. Meanwhile, the film, directed by Steven Spielberg, got USD 178 million in box office gains on its domestic market the US, and USD 66 million internationally. The film had a production budget of USD 65 million. Silver Linings Playbook, which brought leading actress Jennifer Lawrence the Oscar for Best Actress in Leading Role, had box office revenues of some USD 228,000 in Romania, where it has also been running for the last three weeks on cinema screens. In the US, its box office rank is of USD 107 million, and internationally, of some USD 52 million, which is still higher than the production budget of USD 21 million. Django Unchained was mentioned twice at the Oscars. First, Christoph Waltz won the statue for Best Actor in Supporting Role, then director and screenplay writer Quentin Tarantino got the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Django had one of the highest box office grossings in Romania to date, with some USD 557,000 and currently ranking 8th, after just 5 weeks of running across local cinemas. Over 100,000 Romanians have watched the film, which has proved to be more popular outside the US than in its home market, with a box office gain of USD 158 million in the US, and USD 221 million internationally. The production budget was higher too: USD 100 million.