re: If these movies were released in the same year, which wins Best Picture Oscar?

historical setting + amazing effects + love story + celebrating a "good" movie making so much money. just a ton of overall momentum

people forget it often now, but before its release it was seen as an impending super bust of a movie that went way over budget and had no audience. it didn't even open that well, but it charged through and just kept rolling week after week

it's financial success was kind of a throwback to the old school, instead of SUPER opening weekend with a dramatic fall, only to be out of theaters in a month. the academy gave it the respect