This batch of 15 films covers the period July 16 - September 19, 1997. Two Best Picture nominees came out in this period: The Full Monty on August 13 and L.A. Confidential on September 19.
The Full Monty, in which out-of-work steel workers in desperate need of money form a pseudo-Chippendales act promising full frontal nudity, was one of many British indie/arthouse films that took the US and Oscar by storm in the 1990s; indeed, between 1992 and 1998, nine such films were up for Best Picture. It was an insanely successful film, financially, grossing over $250M on a $3.5M budget. Of course, money isn't everything, but cultural impact is, and The Full Monty can boast that, too: two stage productions, one a musical (2000, book by Love! Valour! Compassion! playwright Terrence McNally), one a non-musical (2013); a television series spin-off that debuted on Hulu last summer; and, I would argue, is the reason other similarly-toned and -themed films from 2003's Calendar Girls to 2014's Pride were greenlit and made.
L.A. Confidential is the movie people today claim came closest to threatening Titanic's Best Picture win (I assume that's quite relative). Adapted from the James Ellroy novel of the same name, it depicts the corruption of the LAPD, its relationship with Hollywood and organized crime, and a trio of cops who decide, yeah, maybe it's time to do the right thing. Titanic may have been the people's choice, but L.A. Confidential was the critics' pick: the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Society of Film Critics, and the Critics' Choice Awards all named it the Best Film of 1997. It was also a hit - $126M gross, $35M budget, hoo yeah.
Interesting to see two Best Picture nominees among these releases, especially as, nowadays, August and September aren't really considered "awards season" periods. Times change. Anyway, the rest of the summer:
