Daily Times

The Oscars are in less than a month and the debate continues: “who will win best picture?”

There’s no way of knowing, but what if there was? Online casino guide Japan 101 compared the nominees to find out which film might win if it was down to the most cost effective film made.

Avatar: The Way of Water had the highest budget with $350m

Top Gun: Maverick made the most money back in profits worldwide

All Quiet on the Western Front had the smallest budget as well as the lowest worldwide gross profit

Top Gun: Maverick made the most money back proportionally with 8.7 times gross worldwide profit compared to the Avatar’s 6.3 times. Therefore, Top Gun was the most cost effective and the least expensive overall, which would make it the frontrunner for Best Picture.

Avatar: The Way of Water was the most expensive film to make due to its eyewatering £350m budget, but ended up the second most cost effective, making back 6.3 times its budget. The gross worldwide profit was $2.2bn, just shy of being double Top Gun: Maverick’s $1.4bn.

Everything Everywhere All at Once came in as the third most cost effective overall despite having the third smallest budget. Amassing almost $107m gross profit after a comparatively modest budget of $25m, the film made back 4.2 times its initial spend. Of the eight films nominated for best picture, The Banshees of Inisherin had the second smallest budget standing at just over $10m. Meanwhile, the gross worldwide profit came in at 3.9 times, which makes it the fourth most cost effective. This was only a little more than Elvis. Despite making a healthy $287m gross worldwide profit at the box office, this comes in as fifth making it the third most expensive overall, due to the $85m budget.