I think something like Dune winning 2021 or Top Gun last year (I prefer EEAO) would be a better examples of this. Those are movies a lot of folks watched and were critical darlings as well. There are more then a few examples in the history of the Oscars where some of the biggest movies of the year at the box office were winning BP.
Titanic, Gone with the Wind, Return of the King, Gladiator, Forest Gump, The Sting, both Godfathers, The Sound of Music.
I'm not saying that is what needs to happen every year. And I think last year, was a good example of a film that didn't have the all time box office return, that was clearly a audience favorite. But things use to be different. Big films audiences loved won.