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Oscar nominations: Will the dark horse make Sense?

Arthur J Pais

With just two Golden Globe nominations -- one for screenplay and one for supporting actor -- the awards scene looked glum for The Sixth Sense.

Currently the 10th most successful film globally, with more than a $ 600 million gross -- and plenty more to come, The Sixth Sense has become one of the most profitable films for Disney in recent years. It is also the biggest grossing film for Bruce Willis whose non-action films seldom fly at the box-office.

But the movie would not have a ghost of a chance of winning major Oscar nominations, industrywallahs were saying last month. For it was not on 10 best films list of most of the major critics, and it was snubbed at the Golden Globes.

But its fortunes have been turning up considerably in the last three weeks, and many critics and Oscar-watchers say they would not be surprised if it gets a handful of Oscar nods, including the best picture on Tuesday.

The tide began changing when the Directors Guild of America nominated Manoj Night Shyamalan. Then came a nomination from the Screen Writers Guild. The Guild nominated Haley Joel Osment in the best supporting actor category.

On Tuesday morning, Shyamalan, 29, could be nominated for direction and screenplay, Hollywood insiders believe. The film-maker, whose previous films Praying with Anger and Wide Awake were box-office duds, says he had never expected the movie to be a hit when The Blair Witch Project, another supernatural thriller that opened a few weeks before his film did, and became a big hit.

In the final reckoning, Project, which cost less than $ 100,000 took in $ 140 million in America, while Sense, which cost $ 40 million, has made about $ 280 million. The movie is playing in about 200 movie houses in America, if it wins major nominations, it could be back in more than 1,000 theatres. Abroad, it is among the top 10 grossers in more than a dozen countries. It has grossed nearly $ 50 million in Japan and $ 40 million in England.

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