Oscar win sparks Hurt Locker rush (From Croydon Guardian)

Oscar win sparks Hurt Locker rush

10:52am Wednesday 10th March 2010 in

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Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar triumph has had an instant effect on her movie's fortunes with rentals more than doubling in a matter of hours.

The Hurt Locker landed six titles at the world's biggest movie bash this week, including best director and film.

Now DVD subscription firm Lovefilm has reported rentals for the Iraq war thriller shot up by 117 per cent in 24 hours following its victories.

Other winning titles have proved a hit with armchair movie fans, with The Young Victoria, which landed a best costume Oscar for Sandy Powell, up 37 per cent, and best animation winner Up saw rentals rise by 19 per cent.

A number of big winners are still to be released on DVD and pre-orders for winning titles rose dramatically.

Orders for Sandra Bullock's best actress-winning film The Blind Side shot up by 252 per cent, Jeff Bridges' Crazy Heart, which landed him a best actor Oscar, were up 212 per cent and Precious, which gave Mo'Nique a best supporting actress title, rose by 129 per cent.

Films which rose from obscurity thanks to the Oscars saw the most dramatic rises, with best foreign language film winner El Secreto De Sus Ojos and seeing its pre-orders rise by 3,115 per cent.

Oscar wins proved a bigger pull for film fans than the Baftas, with The Hurt Locker's rentals rising 66 per cent within a day of its best film win at the British ceremony.

Lovefilm editor Helen Cowley said: "The Hurt Locker really is the underdog story of the year. Its David v Goliath award success against the likes of Avatar makes for an incredible story."