While we’re waiting for the Directors Guild of America nominations later today — still the single best bellwether for the Oscars — Sony’s “The Social Network” has edged closer to inevitability in the Best Picture race, copping the top prize from the National Society of Film Critics, which also handed out honors to director David Fincher, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and best actor Jesse Eisenberg (who won the same honor from the Boston critics and the National Board of Review).
Last last year’s winner at NSFC was “The Hurt Locker,” which like “The Social Network” managed the hat trick of also winning best picture honors from the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. Among the handful of other titles that have managed this rare feat in the NSFC’s 45-year-history are a pair of other Best Picture winners at the Oscars, “Unforgiven” and “Schindler’s List.”
Claire Atkinson, my colleague in The Post’s business section, is reporting that Sony Pictures Entertainment has spent $55 million to campaign “The Social Network” (which reportedly cost $40 million to make) in hopes of landing the first Best Picture Oscar winner for its flagship Columbia label in 23 years. That last winner was the independently produced “The Last Emperor,” released when Columbia was owned by Coca Cola; the studio no longer has any rights to this one.
Sony even took the costly step of expanding the 15th and last weekend of “The Social Network” in theaters (it’s out on DVD tomorrow) to 603 locations, where it grossed a weak $1,078 per theater — roughly the same as Sony’s $120M holiday flop “How Do You Know” in its fourth weekend — which means the studio likely had negative cash flows because it failed to make house expenses in many locations. Still, the final domestic tally of $94 million (and $104M overseas) is a superb showing for a serious film with no box-office stars.
Sony’s main rival for Oscar’s Best Picture honors, The Weinsteins’ crowd-pleasing but comparatively old-school “The King’s Speech,” imperatively needs a DGA nomination for Tom Hooper today to remain viable (and will probably get it), but there are a couple of other surging titles nipping at Harvey’s heels.
Paramount’s “True Grit” passed the $100 million mark in first place over the weekend — Oscar nomination polls close on Friday — far and away the best ever total for the Coen Brothers and truly impressive for the semi-moribund western genre. Fox Searchlight’s “Black Swan,” has collected more than $61 million in North America, better than director Darren Aronofsky’s previous four films combined, and seems headed for a final tally in the vicinity of $100 million.
Last year’s Best Picture winner, “The Hurt Locker,” didn’t make it to $12 million during its run. But it was backed by critics’ awards that have largely eluded this year’s smaller pictures like “The Fighter” and “Winter’s Bone.”
