Why Are Good Movies Less Successful Today?

Meryl Streep tops the list of actresses with the most Oscar nominations (16 going into the 2010 Academy Awards season).  But Katharine Hepburn, with 12 nominations, still beats Meryl when it comes to total wins (4 for Hepburn, 2 for Streep (3 if Streep wins for Julia & Julia).

With all those Oscar nominations, Meryl Streep and Katharine Hepburn are good candidates to see how Oscar nominations break out NOW between big box office movies (over $100 million in equivalent 2010 $s) and less financially successful films versus THEN

THEN

58  Percentage of Katharine Hepburn's 12 Oscar nominated films making over $100 million in domestic box office (in equivalent 2010 $s): The Philadelphia Story, 1940; Woman of the Year, 1942; The African Queen, 1951; Suddenly, Last Summer, 1959; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, 1967; The Lion in Winter, 1968 and On Golden Pond, 1981

NOW

50  Percentage of the top 10 domestic box office films starring Meryl Streep for which she was nominated for an Oscar

36  Percentage of the 11 films starring Meryl Streep, with 4 or more Oscar nominations, that made more than $100 million in domestic box office

31  Percentage of Meryl's 16 Oscar nominated films making more than $100 million in domestic box office:  Kramer vs Kramer, 1979; The Deer Hunter, 1978; Out of Africa, 1985; The Bridges of Madison County, 1995 and The Devil Wears Prada, 2006