Russell Crowe missed out on best actor for A Beautiful Mind

"That is spectacular performance for a movie that's been in theatres for that long," Dan Marks of box office tracking service ACNielsen EDI told Variety.

Halle Berry's emotional best actress acceptance speech ensured Monster's Ball received plenty of coverage.

As a result takings for the film increased by 30% to $2.1m (�1.4m).

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The number of cinemas showing the film has also significantly increased, with total receipts reaching $23m (�15.9m).

The Lord of the Rings has also fared well since its Oscar outing.

Although the adaptation of JRR Tolkien's did not perform as well at the Academy Awards as expected, picking up four out of a possible 13 Oscars, cinema-goers are still hungry to see it.

The movie, directed by Peter Jackson, is still showing at 1,120 screens, 15 weeks after it was released.

Its $2.4m (�1.6m) weekend takings brings its total box office receipts to a massive $301.3m (�209.5m).

A new teaser trailer for the second instalment The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - not due out until November - has boosted its appeal.

Gosford Park, which picked up best original screenplay for British writer Julian Fellowes, could not cash in as much over the Easter break as a decision was made to remove it from 300 screens.

Despite this it still managed to bring in nearly $1m (�695,464) in the three-day period.