Best-picture Oscar nominees 'Barbenheimer' account for 88% of the slate's box-office haul

"Barbenheimer" strikes again.

It's no surprise that Warner Bros.' "Barbie" and Universal's "Oppenheimer" were among the 10 best-picture nominees announced Tuesday for this year's Academy Awards ceremony. The duo exploded into cinemas in July, generating big box-office bucks and enchanting critics and audiences alike.

Helmed by academy darlings Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan, respectively, the dichotomous films have been on Oscar prediction lists for months. Although Gerwig missed out on a best director nomination, both filmmakers received nods for their screenplays.

Altogether, "Oppenheimer" led the pack with 13 nominations, while "Barbie" tallied eight.

The tag-team of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" also represented 88% of the cumulative box-office haul generated by best picture nominees prior to their nomination, according to data from Comscore.

The 10 best picture films together tallied $1.09 billion at the domestic box office ahead of Tuesday's announcement, the fifth-highest haul for the slate of nominees since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences began nominating 10 titles for the top award in 2009.

"Barbenheimer" accounted for $963.1 million of this year's figure.

Read more: 'Oppenheimer' and 'Poor Things' lead the Oscars nomination pack — See the full list

Last year, the 10 best-picture nominees generated $1.57 billion at the domestic box office before their nominations, the highest-grossing class of nominees on record. The 2023 films benefited from $718 million in ticket sales from Paramount's "Top Gun: Maverick" and nearly $600 million in receipts from Disney and 20th Century's "Avatar: The Way of Water."

The box-office collection from nominated pictures can fluctuate greatly from year to year, depending on