Despite a massive advertising campaign and a new host for this year's Oscars, television ratings for the show dropped by more than 2 million in the US.
Oscar producers drafted in comedian Jon Stewart to host the three-and-a-half hour ceremony to help spark greater interest in the awards show.
But the audience was the third lowest in 20 years, with some 38.8m US viewers tuning in. The ABC television network said the number was nearly 8% lower than last year.
The predictability of the Awards and the fact that American cinema audiences had not seen many of the films has been blamed for the drop in viewers - the five movies nominated for best film were 'Brokeback Mountain', 'Capote', 'Crash', 'Munich' and 'Good Night, and Good Luck'.
There were no big surprises until the last few minutes when the independent race drama 'Crash' snatched the best picture Oscar from favourite 'Brokeback Mountain'.
Now, following from its Oscar success, Pathe distributors will re-release 'Crash' in 70 cinemas in Ireland and the UK this week, seven months after it was first released.
