Box Office success for “The Blind Side” after Bullock takes home Oscar

According to recent statistics, there’s not much like an Academy Award to boost box office sales. Both “The Blind Side” and “Crazy Heart” received increased sales this weekend one week after both leads took home the Oscar for Best Actress and Best Actor (respectively).

“Crazy Heart” which saw Jeff Bridges win for his portrayal of a drunken, dried up country singer, has collected a total of US$34.2 million – more than double the gross amount brought in by Best Film “The Hurt Locker”. Sandra Bullock’s “The Blind Side” grew by 24% to bring up the total number of receipts for the film to an impressive US$252.7 million. Bullock, though, almost turned down the job.

The actress told The Times that director John Lee Hancock had to convince her to take the part. In the film Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, the mother of a well-to-do family which takes in a homeless, African-American boy from a broken home who goes on to become an All-American offensive left tackles in the NFL. It took Hancock a year to persuade Bullock to meet the real Leigh Anne Tuohy. The star says she was unsure whether she could do her justice.

The actress who won a Razzie for Worst Actress for her film “All About Steve” the night before the Oscars, said that having her own family helped and that five years ago she would not have been able to pull off the film. Despite the Academy Award acclamation surrounding “The Blind Side”, Bullock joked that “All About Steve” is the one to become the classic in ten years time.