Lowest Grossing Oscar Winners in Best Picture History

“Success” in the film industry can mean a lot of different things. Critical acclaim and box office receipts often don’t line up. Sometimes, in fact, there’s a huge difference between how revered a film is and how much money it makes. Some Oscar winning films actually pulled in pretty low numbers. Here are some of the lowest grossing Oscar winners in Best Picture history.

1. Braveheart

The 1995 historical drama Braveheart starring Mel Gibson took in $75,545,647 at the North American box office, which isn’t that impressive (many blockbusters make more than that in one weekend). With a production budget of $72 million, it wasn’t a big financial hit. Worldwide ticket sales helped fill the coffers, especially after the film cleaned up at the awards shows. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards and ended up taking five of them: Best Director, Best Picture, Best Makeup, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound Editing. The acclaimed film has been critiqued for not being historically accurate, though.