ISSUES AT THE BOX OFFICE THEY'RE HOT RIGHT NOW, BUT AFTER THE OSCARS, IT'S (MINDLESS) BUSINESS AS USUAL.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

There has been a lot of discussion since ``Brokeback Mountain,'' ``Capote,'' ``Crash,'' ``Good Night, and Good Luck'' and ``Munich'' were announced as the best picture nominees for the 78th Annual Academy Awards.

Most of the discussions have been about the likely ratings of the March 5 Oscar telecast, which conventional wisdom agrees are bound to be pretty dismal.

While it would be nice if the attention big Oscar nominations are supposed to impart was focused more on the important, controversial issues this quintet of uniquely serious-minded films examine, it says something about the state of the movie world that the subject instead has been their limited popularity.

Chalk that up to the entertainment media's ability to trivialize everything, you say? Partially. But numbers tell part of the story, too. While ``Brokeback Mountain'' has been the only nominee to reliably earn $3 million to $5 million per weekend since the start of the year, during the same period the top end of the charts have reliably hosted $20 million-plus debuts of horror junk so inept it wasn't screened for reviewers (``Underworld: Evolution,'' ``When a Stranger Calls'') and broad comedies designed not to tax a 6-year-old's faculties (``Big Momma's House 2,'' ``The Pink Panther'').

Of course, it's a show-biz truism that mindless entertainment usually attracts a larger audience than complex, disturbing inquiries into, say, journalistic ethics, racial prejudice, the ethics of counter-terrorism and the place of same-sex love in a culture unequipped to tolerate it. But it's also long been true that the imprimatur of major Oscar nominations draws crowds to difficult or disturbing films.

The kinds of films which, by the way, are never easy to finance.

``This one, I had to play a part in it to get it made,'' producer-director George Clooney says of his 1950s-set politics-and-the-press dramatization ``Good Night, and Good Luck.'' ``Because believe me, they weren't jumping to do a black-and-white film. I don't know why.''

This from a superstar who's made millions for Warner Bros., which eventually backed Clooney's modestly budgeted period piece and released it through art-house arm Warner Independent Pictures. But when it takes a guy like him years to get his pet project greenlighted ... and when even a best picture nomination hasn't pushed a film like Steven Spielberg's ``Munich'' past the North American gross of the cheaply made, universally panned cartoon ``Hoodwinked'' ... you have to ask if serious, challenging films have much of a future, even with the approval of the historically middlebrow academy.

According to some of the folks who have horses in this race, the answer is a resounding yes. But only if the numbers make it feasible.

``The Oscar nominations speak well for thoughtful and thought-provoking motion pictures,'' says Tom Ortenberg, president of Lionsgate Theatrical Films, which has ``Crash'' on the best picture track. ``And I do believe that both the studios and independents will continue to make films aimed at a thinking people's kind of audience. But what needs to change for the studios is the economic model that goes into these kinds of movies.''

As an example, the $6.5 million ``Crash'' earned about $55 million in theaters at the beginning of last summer's escapist movie season. That was enough to earn it huge sleeper-hit status. The much bigger-budgeted Universal release ``Cinderella Man'' came out around the same time, made a few million more at summer box offices and was widely perceived as a major failure. It's now an Oscar also-ran with just three small category nominations, despite boasting the same actor-star team, Russell Crowe and Ron Howard, that won 2001's best picture statue for ``A Beautiful Mind.''

``If movies like 'Cinderella Man' could be produced and distributed on a different model than the studios are used to using, then I think those kinds of movies cannot just fill slots but be an integral part of any studio's business,'' Ortenberg believes.

He can talk; Lionsgate is the only genuinely independent distributor in the best picture contest. Sony Pictures Classics (``Capote''), Focus (``Brokeback'') and WIP (``Good Night'') are all art-house arms of major studios. Universal is the only true major that got into the fray, with ``Munich'' - which, ironically, is one of the most personal and certainly the most polarizing picture that Spielberg - a usual box-office sure bet - has ever made.

Some, like Sony Classics co-president Tom Bernard, don't believe that the major studios can really field the types of pictures that get Oscar nominations anymore. The ever-increasing pressure to make as much money in theaters as quickly as possible - before the next blockbuster takes up screens and the shortening window to the home-video revenue stream closes - mitigates against nurturing expensive, adult-themed productions such as ``Beautiful Mind'' and ``Forrest Gump,'' to name two thoughtful big-studio Oscar winners from not so long ago.

On the other hand, Bernard says he's seen nothing but smiles at Sony Corporate in regard to ``Capote,'' which at $22 million has the lowest total gross of the best picture contenders and has made less, since September, than ``Eight Below'' earned in its first four days.

``For us, we're thrilled,'' Bernard says. ``If they weren't nominated, the box-office for all of these movies would not be where it is today. There has been a big uptick. A teen slasher movie being No. 1 for the weekend is not a factor for us. Our business is great. We've now developed a niche audience. 'Capote' was a $6 million picture made by three guys who met in high school.''

Sometimes, it seems like its taken since your school days to get a serious movie made. Focus Features co-president James Schamus has had the film rights to Annie Proulx's ``Brokeback Mountain'' short story since back when he was an independent producer with his old buddy, the film's eventual director, Ang Lee.

``I went hat-in-hand to every studio, and we failed miserably to make it,'' Schamus recalls. ``Then we formed Focus Features, and suddenly I was sitting on the other side of the desk. When someone said, 'Hey, let's make this movie,' I was either going to become the biggest hypocrite in independent film history or I was going to say, 'Now, I guess - gulp - I'll have to greenlight the movie.' ''

The gulp was because conventional wisdom had it that no one was going to go to a gay cowboy movie. Now ``Brokeback'' is the ``blockbuster'' of the best picture pack - by the night of the ceremonies, it will have made almost as much money as, um, ``Cheaper by the Dozen 2'' - and some expect it to inspire a whole new wave of gay films straight people will go to.

``When I first read the short story, I didn't imagine many people would see it,'' director Lee admits. ``Actually, I put it aside and went to do 'The Hulk.' But it refused to leave my mind throughout the whole two-year process. It always hit me as the type of movie that is not for a lot of people.''

Even if it doesn't crack the $100 million-gross barrier, ``Brokeback'' is clearly a much greater success than anyone would have predicted. That possibility, and the patient passion for a serious or hot-button project that Lee and Schamus exhibited, ensure that these kinds of movies are still going to get made.

``Like all movie genres, some thoughtful, thought-provoking movies are successful and make money, and some are not and lose money,'' Lionsgate's Ortenberg says. ``Just like some big tent-pole pictures are successful and some aren't, and Hollywood will keep making them. But filmmakers who work in this town have a lot of great stories to tell. They want to tell these stories and will do whatever they need to to tell them.''

And even if conventional wisdom proves right about the Oscar telecast being a ratings disaster, it's still the last thing serious-minded filmmakers should buy into.

``If I can give a word of advice to anybody who's thinking of going into the film business, it is: Learn from your mistakes, but don't learn too much,'' says Focus' Schamus. ``People who learn too much from their mistakes end up saying things in meetings like, 'Well, I can't do a period movie in costumes,' meaning, 'I'll pass on ``Crouching Tiger'' (a Schamus-Lee megahit).'

``I've found that, in this business, it's far better to remain a little ignorant rather than know too much about what not to do,'' Schamus concludes, ``because then you'll never do anything.''

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

7 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) HOLLYWOOD & POLITICS

Issue-oriented films are dominating the Oscar race, but do they have a future?

Photos.com; Associated Press; Photo Illustration by Warren Huskey/Staff Artist

(2) `Crash'

(3) `Good Night, and Good Luck'

(4) `Munich'

(5) `Capote'

(6) `Brokeback Mountain'

(7) ``Brokeback Mountain'' director Ang Lee