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In a way it was kind of a miracle that the 2009 film “The Hurt Locker” won Best Picture at the 2010 Academy Awards. It’s not that the surprise came from it’s quality (it was among the top rated films of the year from a majority of critics), but from the fact of how little money it made during it’s run in the theaters. One of the biggest truths in Hollywood bigger is better, and while the biggest grossing film of the year typically doesn’t win Best Picture, the winner typically has a gross of at least 100 million dollars. The Hurt Locker made just under 15 million in it’s domestic box office run, making it the lowest grossing film to ever take home a Best Picture trophy (including inflation).

To make things even more shocking, “The Hurt Locker” took out “Avatar” in the Best Picture race, a movie that currently ranks as the highest grossing movie of all time (not including inflation). In a way, though, “The Hurt Locker” has followed a trend in recent years of “smaller” films taking on the larger films that typically win Best Picture Trophies, including “Million Dollar Baby”, which defeated “The Aviator”, and “No Country for Old Men”.