Eugene David<br>...The One-Minute Pundit

Posted 10:06 AM by Gene

Despite "The Hurt Locker's" seemingly endless list of year end honors, including those best picture kudos from the L.A. and N.Y. groups and its impressive SAG, Globe and Critics Choice Movie Award nominations, the question I keep hearing repeatedly is: Can the movie actually win the Best Picture Oscar when it has only grossed $12 million since its June release?...

"Nine" which reportedly cost around $64 million to make only grossed just over $5 million....

"Up in the Air's" wide break did nothing box-office-wise to hurt its chances, earning $11 million. That was good for fifth place, but its lack of fire did nothing to help it either. It's in about the same boat as Clint Eastwood's "Invictus", which has done about $23 million since opening Dec. 11 but won't be one of the director's big hits....

And although "Precious," which started out gangbusters in November, seems to have stalled in the low 40s....

Peter Jackson's underperforming limited release, "The Lovely Bones"....

The academy obviously loves the Coens but despite some stellar reviews, their very personal and quirky early October release is one of their weakest money earners, stalled at No. 141 on the Box Office Mojo chart with just about $9 million.

Do I see a pattern?

Yes -- a pattern of few people wanting to see fillums that are good for them.