Funny thing about the Academy Awards: Just one little gold statue can change a tiny art house picture that was made for $5 and crew lunches into a multimillion-dollar monster.

Take last year’s winner for Best Picture at the event. The King’s Speech was put together for around $15 million by Bedlam Productions, See-Saw Films and with funding from the UK Film Council. The Weinstein Company then put it out and made $414 million on international box office. It ain’t exactly exactly the $2.7 billion Avatar made for News Corp.’s (NASDAQ:NWSA) 20th Century Fox, but that’s still a big windfall — all thanks to the hype brought on by one award.

The Best Picture competitors for the 84th Annual Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday. Who’s going to profit for the win? And the nominees are …

News Corp.: The Descendants, The Tree of Life

The independent film distributing arm of Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, already has seen a modest return on The Descendants’ $20 million budget. The George Clooney vehicle has made $61 million since releasing in November. A Best Picture win could grow that figure by leaps and bounds. Director Alexander Payne has struck Academy Award gold in the past. His 2004 picture Sideways, made for $16 million, went on to earn $109 million thanks in large part to buzz generated by its Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The other Fox Searchlight production vying for awards is Terrence Mallick’s inscrutable Tree of Life. Up for Best Picture, Best Cinematography and Best Director, Tree stands to gain more from an award-born financial boost. The movie, made for $32 million, has only grossed $54 million worldwide, the bulk of which came from EuropaCorp’s international release.

Disney: The Help, War Horse

Disney (NYSE:DIS) already has made plenty on the Touchstone Pictures-distributed The Help. The film adaptation of Kathyn Stockett’s Civil Rights parable has so far earned more than $205 million at the box office, eight times its budget of $25 million.

The house of Mickey has a Steven Spielberg safety net in place with War Horse, which has performed admirably since its holiday release. The $66 million-budgeted adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s children’s book has so far made $101 million — a figure that continues to grow.

Viacom: Hugo

Snubbed by the Academy for years, Martin Scorsese has yet another shot at Best Picture this year thanks to Hugo. The atypical — at least for the director best known for brutal crime drama — paean to film’s formative years was another a critical darling when it released in November, but the Viacom (NASDAQ:VIA, VIAB) Paramount Pictures film has severely underperformed at box office. Hugo has grossed $83 million worldwide so far, barely more than half of its approximately $160 million budget. A Best Picture award could give Hugo a second life in theaters.

Sony: Moneyball, Midnight in Paris

Sony‘s (NYSE:SNE) got its bases covered with both an indie hit from a resurgent director and a mainstream slugger with Brad Pitt and Aaron Sorkin power. The Columbia Pictures-distributed Moneyball earned some decent scratch for Sony last fall, taking in $106 million on a $50 million budget. Not bad, but like Billy Beane’s experimental management of the Oakland A’s, the results could have been better.

Meanwhile, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris put out by Sony Pictures Classics already has done marvelously for the company. A $17 million budget has turned into $148 million in box office gross. An Academy Award would just be icing on the cake.

Time Warner: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Time Warner‘s (NYSE:TWX) Warner Bros. studio is distributing this divisive adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s 9/11 novel. The movie just opened on Friday for a wide release and took in just $10.5 million over the weekend, putting it in fourth place. It has grossed just $11.4 million total. Given the mixed critical reception and audience indifferent, an Academy Award could be a boon to the movie, but right now it’s not a favorite to win. Of course, Warner Bros. does have other eggs in its basket …

The Weinstein Company: The Artist

Of course The Weinstein Company has a Best Picture contender! Michel Hazanavicius’ silent movie has garnered plenty of attention already, winning three Golden Globe awards and a whole lot of stories about how the dog in it should be nominated for an Academy Award. Warner Bros. has a stake in this one as well, since it handled distribution in France. Despite the hype surrounding it, The Artist is a cool earner. The $12 million budgeted movie has brought in just $33 million worldwide. An Academy Award certainly would help, but considering audiences have been demanding refunds after realizing it’s a silent movie, The Artist has an uphill battle no matter what.

As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks. Follow him on Twitter at @ajohnagnello and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook.