It's About Time: Next Year's Oscars to Have 10 Best Pic Nominations

Well, they had to do something. Year-in, year-out, decade after decade, the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have dropped the ball when it comes to Best Picture nomination selections. On average, I'd say roughly three of the five selected each year have been worthy and that's being generous. It's no wonder ratings haven't seen Titanic rises in eons. In recent years, Oscar snubs have made more news than the nominations themselves. That's why I'm a bit excited -- albeit the purist in me is torn (I don't like Interleague baseball either), that the Academy announced today that the 82nd Annual Oscar telecast will feature 10 feature films in the top category. Somewhere Batman -- not to mention WALL-E -- are smiling. No doubt they had something to do with this.

The Oscars way back in the day used to have 10 nominees (sometimes eight) in the Best Picture race but haven't since Casablanca won in 1943. Logic without reason I guess. One can only wonder what films that got the shaft every year, every decade since then would've been given their due. You know maybe they should start awarding Honorary Best Film Oscars like they do for actor's they've slighted throughout the years now. Wes Anderson get ready to pick up your Tenenbaums Oscar if that ever happens.

I only mention that film because it's a classic as far as I'm concerned. As a matter of fact, most film classics weren't nominated for Best Picture so that's why, again, I'm excited to see some Oscar changes. Ever since Obama rocked onto the scene, change has been everywhere. Everything's about change, and the term and word "change" are being beaten over everybody's head. Change isn't a bad thing, but change for the sake of change is. This isn't.

One can only hope Oscar voters change their voting ways now. For far too long comedies and box office blockbusters (and fantasy movies not frolicking with hobbits) have got little to no respect. Tell me 2007's best film wasn't Bourne Ultimatum, and I might believe you. Yep, it's time for the Oscars to take a hint from The Golden Globes and loosen up. Up is a shoo-in this year for Best Animated Flick, let's hope now it can be where it belongs -- in the Best Picture category as well. There's so much potential here... potential for small indies to get recognized and flourish at the box office; a chance for comedies to disprove that the Academy is made up solely of rich, uptight white people, and last but not least and arguably most importantly, it may very well entice studios to make more quality films and less Year Ones and Paul Blarts. Pray.

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Comments

[WHTrout]

Gotta wonder how much of the rationale behind this change in the number of "best picture" nominees is pure economics -- and has nothing to do with rewarding real merit.
Yes, it would have been good, right and fitting if "Dark Knight" had gotten more Academy recognition for its real artistry than it got; no argument there. And yes, the Academy always makes "mistakes" -- does anyone outside the 90210 zip honestly think that "Crash" was a better movie than "Brokeback Mountain"? So I understand the impetus to modernize Academy rules (or in this case to retro-ize the rules to the 1930s and 40s) in some way to reward real merit.
Unfortunately, the only real difference this rule change will make is, starting next spring, instead of having only five movies to advertise as a "Best Picture Nominee," studios will now have TEN movies to hype. At the wave of a movie-magic wand, there is now twice the revenue to be generated -- not only for the studios (advertising puts butts in theater seats) but also for the newspapers and billboard companies and radio stations and TV networks and.... You get the scenario -- 10 nominees instead of 5 means twice the advertising, twice the money changing hands -- from yours and mine to theirs.
Maybe that's good for their economy. Meanwhile, I heard on tv today that Oliver Stone is filming a sequel to "Wall Street" -- I suspect that greed is still, well, if not "good," at least

[LMPE]

Just as long as Michael Bay's movies don't get Best Picture nominations.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

Just because they nominate more movies doesn't mean they are going to start giving the award to anything but totally obscure indie movies.