Lowest Grossing Movies To Win Best Picture At The Academy Awards

The last time that top-grossing film of the year also won the Academy Award for Best Picture was in 2003 when Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King took home the award after earning $377 million at the domestic box office. Before that Titanic pulled off the feat in 1997 when the critically acclaimed movie raked in over $600 million. 

In most years, the top-grossing movie of the year isn't even nominated for the prestigious award. Many of the most popular movies are loved by movie-goers but end up being panned by critics. They tend to be big-budget action movies that are part of a larger franchise and make millions(or billions) of dollars at the box office. 

So which Best Picture winners did the worst at the box office? To figure that out we looked at the domestic gross of the winners and used BoxOfficeMojo.com to adjust the earnings for inflation for the rankings. 

These 15 movies may have been loved by critics, but they did not do well during their run in theaters.

• The Deer Hunter (1979)
  • $192,149,700 (Inflation)
  • $48,979,328 (Actual)
• Ordinary People (1981)
  • $186,899,800 (Inflation)
  • $54,766,923 (Actual)
• Braveheart (1996)
  • $159,275,800 (Inflation)
  • $75,609,945 (Actual)
• Annie Hall (1978)
  • $157,465,500 (Inflation)
  • 38,251,425 (Actual)
• Gandhi (1983)
  • $153,840,200 (Inflation)
  •  $52,767,889 (Actual)
• Million Dollar Baby (2005)
  • $143,954,300 (Inflation)
  • $100,492,203 (Actual)
• Amadeus (1985)
  • $135,817,300 (Inflation)
  • $51,564,280 (Actual)
• The Last Emperor (1998)
  • $98,749,600 (Inflation)
  • $43,984,230 (Actual)
• No Country For Old Men (2008)
  • $97,141,300 (Inflation)
  • $74,283,625 (Actual)
• Crash (2006)
  • $78,130,500 (Inflation)
  •  $54,580,300 (Actual)
• The Artist (2012)
  • $51,788,200 (Inflation)
  • $44,671,682 (Actual)
• Spotlight (2016)
  • $47,812,300 (Inflation)
  • $45,055,776 (Actual)
• Birdman (2015)
  • $47,298,400 (Inflation)
  • $42,340,598 (Actual)
• Moonlight (2017)
  • $28,997,300 (Inflation)
  • $27,854,932 (Actual)
• The Hurt Locker (2010)
  • $20,604,900 (Inflation)
  • $17,017,811

Photo: Getty Images