I don't mean a blockbuster that happens to earn a nomination like Avatar or Inception, but rather a movie crafted to be an awards darling, Or could it had been the King's Speech? That did make over $400M worldwide.
Don't take this the wrong way, Liscarkat but Sci fi and action type films did often make more money than movies nominated for best picture in the past. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Terminator 2, and Jurassic Park all made way more money world wide at the box office than all the movies that were nominated for best picture at the Oscars their respective years. Lethal Weapon made more money at the box office than all but 1 movie nominated at the Oscars its respective year. Not saying the movies nominated were bad. Just that it does seem quite a few non drama films have made way more money than movies nominated for best picture. So movies that aren't dramas making more money than Oscar worthy films is not a new or recent thing.
Indeed. Escapism was always more popular by the general audience than life drama. You could see this trend as far back as the world wars where people looked to horror movies to escape the realities of real life horror.
When Best Picture Nominees where released in the summer I'd say Saving Private Ryan fit your description in 1998. I think it was one of the highest grossing movies that year and should have won Best Picture.