NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Walt Disney Co. was a big winner at the Academy Awards Sunday evening, but it'll likely have to share its box office boost with other entertainment conglomerates such as Vivendi Universal and Viacom Inc.

Miramax should get a box office boost from winning best picture as well as the best supporting actress win by Catherine Zeta-Jones, left. But Renee Zellweger, right, lost in her bid to win the best actress award and an even greater payday for Miramax.

The Miramax unit of Disney (DIS: Research, Estimates) had gone into the awards program with eight of the 15 nominations in the three categories - best picture, best actor and best actress - that traditionally have produced the greatest box office boost for the winners. And while the studio's "Chicago" took the best picture honor, one of its stars, Renee Zellweger, a favorite for the best actress award, lost out to Nicole Kidman for "The Hours."

That win wasn't a complete loss for Disney and Miramax, which jointly distributed the film with the Paramount Pictures unit of Viacom (VIA: Research, Estimates). But Miramax's two contenders for Best Actor - Daniel Day Lewis for his performance in "Gangs of New York" and Michael Caine in "The Quiet American" lost out to Adrien Brody for his performance in "The Pianist," from Focus Features, a unit of Vivendi (V: Research, Estimates).

"The Pianist" also won an upset best director's award for Roman Polanski.

On a percentage basis, "The Pianist" was probably the big winner of the night, even if it lost out on best picture to "Chicago." The film has done only about $18.6 million in U.S. box office to date, compared to $124.8 million for "Chicago."

According to a study on the impact of Oscar awards and nominations on box office by Colby College professor of economics Randy Nelson, a best picture win is worth about $16 million in additional box office, while a best actor or actress nomination is worth $5.6 million in additional box office. So Brody's win alone could lift his film's box office by 30 percent, while the success of "Chicago" is expected to add only 15 percent or so to its box office.

Miramax grabbed a third, though lesser box office-boosting award when Catherine Zeta-Jones won best supporting Actress for Chicago, But the studio had the odds in its favor in that category, as three of the five nominees were from its films. A best supporting actor or actress award is worth about $2.5 million in additional box office. But Miramax lost out on the best supporting actor category, where it had two nominees, when Chris Cooper won the award for his performance "Adaptation," from Sony (SNE: Research, Estimates).

AOL Time Warner (AOL: Research, Estimates), which had three nominees in the three major categories and one in the best supporting actress category, was shut out of the money awards, as was Fox Entertainment Group (FOX: Research, Estimates), which had one nominee in the top categories - Diane Lane for her performance in Unfaithful. CNN/Money is also a unit of AOL Time Warner.

Disney did get another boost from the Oscar awards - its ABC television network broadcast the awards program.