The last 15 best-picture Oscar winners prove how out of touch Hollywood's biggest night is with general audiences

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The last 15 best-picture Oscar winners prove how out of touch Hollywood's biggest night is with general audiences

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

New Line Cinema

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" is the only movie in the last 15 years that won the best picture Oscar and was the top box office-grossing movie of that year.

It's easy to say that the Oscars are out of touch with the regular moviegoer, but when you dive into the numbers it's scary how correct that general thought is.

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We looked back at the lifetime domestic gross for the last 15 best picture Oscar winners and matched those with the lifetime gross for the movies that topped those years at the box office. And only once did they match up (2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King").

In fact, most of the best picture Oscar winners didn't crack $100 million at the box office and only two crossed the $200 million mark - and that's counting inflation!

See the last 15 years for yourself below. As you'll see, the numbers don't lie.

Note: All figures are domestic grosses only from Box Office Mojo and are added for inflation.

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