Oscars' 82nd Annual will go from 5 to 10 Best Picture nominees

[ALIASd]

82nd Academy Awards® to Feature 10 Best Picture Nominees

Beverly Hills, CA (June 24, 2009) — The 82nd Academy Awards, which will be presented on March 7, 2010, will have 10 feature films vying in the Best Picture category, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis announced today (June 24) at a press conference in Beverly Hills.

“After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year,” said Ganis. “The final outcome, of course, will be the same – one Best Picture winner – but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009.”

For more than a decade during the Academy’s earlier years, the Best Picture category welcomed more than five films; for nine years there were 10 nominees. The 16th Academy Awards (1943) was the last year to include a field of that size; “Casablanca” was named Best Picture. (In 1931/32, there were eight nominees and in 1934 and 1935 there were 12 nominees.)

Currently, the Academy is presenting a bicoastal screening series showcasing the 10 Best Picture nominees of 1939, arguably one of Hollywood’s greatest film years. Best Picture nominees of that year include such diverse classics as “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Stagecoach,” “The Wizard of Oz” and Best Picture winner “Gone with the Wind.”

“Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize,” commented Ganis. “I can’t wait to see what that list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February.”

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2. The Oscar® ceremony honoring films for 2009 will again take place at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.
82nd Academy Awards to Feature 10 Best Picture Nominees | Press Release | AMPAS

[Rex Dopey24]

i hope benjamin button wins some of the awards.

[MarkTwain]

I would guess this is a response to the outcry from the Dark Knight's and Wall-E's snubbing for Best Picture.

[otisney]

Great news for 'Up."

[elly]

variety is the spice of life afterall

i think with the votes being spread across a lot more movies the ability to pick a winner out of hte pack will be much more challenging

[TheTexasKid]

Originally Posted by otisney

Great news for 'Up."

Maybe not. Not if they do away with the category of "Best Animated Film," which I suspect they will. As "Up" pretty much has a lock on it, at this time.

If "Up" is forced to compete not only with other animated films, but also live action films, it is unlikely to win "Best Film."

[ALIASd]

Academy Elections Produce 14 Governors, One Runoff

Beverly Hills, CA (July 7, 2009) — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that the annual branch elections of governors of the organization have returned nine incumbents to the board as well as four new governors and one who returns to the Academy’s governing body after a year off.

Governors who were not up for reelection and who continue on the Board are Annette Bening and Henry Winkler, Actors Branch; Rosemary Brandenburg and Jeffrey Kurland, Art Directors; Owen Roizman and Vilmos Zsigmond, Cinematographers; Martha Coolidge and Curtis Hanson, Directors; Richard Pearce, Documentary; Jim Gianopulos and Robert Rehme, Executives; Dede Allen and Donn Cambern, Film Editors; Leonard Engelman, Makeup Artists and Hairstylists; Charles Fox and Arthur Hamilton, Music; Kathleen Kennedy and Hawk Koch, Producers; Sid Ganis and Marvin Levy, Public Relations; Carl Bell and John Lasseter, Short Films and Feature Animation; Curt Behlmer and Don Hall, Sound; Craig Barron and Richard Edlund, Visual Effects; and Frank Pierson and Phil Robinson, Writers.

The Feature Animation category isn't going anywhere, it took too many years to get it and it has a terrific guardian in place.

[ALIASd]

Best Picture voting gets a makeover

Oscar nominees to be ranked in order of preference

Voting for the Best Picture Oscar nominees is set for a sweeping shift with voters ranking the 10 films in order of preference, rather than the decades-old practice simply voting for a single nominee.

Monday's announcement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences came two months after the board's surprise decision to double the category to 10 nominees. AMPAS had not previously disclosed the specifics of how the votes would be tabulated.

Under the new system - which will only be employed in the Best Picture category -- voters will be asked to rank each of the 10 nominees.

The process calls for PricewaterhouseCoopers to first determine if one nominee has more than 50% of the first-place votes and then begin eliminating the films which are ranked first on the fewest number of ballots. When a film is eliminated, the film ranked second on those ballots will be accorded a first-place vote until a single film has over 50%.

Best Picture voting gets a makeover - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety

[Hoangtrang]

Hi all, I am a new member of forum

[Aladdin]

They can up the nominations from 5 to 10, but still, NONE of them will be comedies