82nd Academy Awards® to Feature
10 Best Picture Nominees

Beverly Hills, CA — The 82nd Academy Awards, which will be presented on March 7, 2010, will have 10 feature films vying in the Best Picture category, Academy 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 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.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Academy Awards Guru!!!,

Is today April 1st?

For the most recent ceremony, the Academy would have been hard pressed to come up with ten, let alone five, best picture nominees!

Ummm... I think this is an awful idea.

This means that Foreign, Documentary and Animated Films finally have the door open.

This is extremely interesting and unexpected news.

Maybe Pixar will finally receive that Best Picture nomination it so truly deserves.

There goes the Oscar bump films receive at the box office, though.

This is horrible.
Are they out of their minds?

In any event, the five films that get director nominees will be considered the real contenders.

But it means that a film could win best picture with as few as 11% (theoretically) or 15-20% (realistically) of the votes.

quote:

Originally posted by Pucifer:
For the most recent ceremony, the Academy would have been hard pressed to come up with ten, let alone five, best picture nominees!

I disagree here. If garbage like The Reader can obtain a nomination, then finding five equally undeserving films will be no problem. People forget that there were at least 2-3 other films that deserved that fifth nomination long before The Reader did.

WHAT THE WHAT!

Horrible decision. I could see them expanding to 6, but 10? Are they insane?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bazookka Joe,

For me, the real Best Film nominees will be the one's with Best Director nominations.

I know that Best Film/Director doesn't always line up, but that's how I will choose to perceive it.

EDIT: beaten to the punch by seanflynn.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: stevie,

Last year -

Dark Knight, WALL-E for sure

Then The Wrestler, Doubt

Then maybe Rev Rd, Gran Torino, Waltz in Bashir come to mind

There will be films nominated for best picture with no other nominations - watch that happen.

Two questions:

Do members list 5 or 10 nominees?
Do they keep the weighted ballot?

I do see this as a Dark Knight, WALL-E reaction

What will this mean for studios? There will now be 10 movies that they can advertise as Best Picture nominees and hope that they get a post-nomination bump. But it also means 10 movies that will need to get expanded advertising treatment and promotion costs? Is it a wash?

quote:

Originally posted by seanflynn:
This is horrible.
Are they out of their minds?

In any event, the five films that get director nominees will be considered the real contenders.

Wouldn't it be funny if 1 or 2 Best Director nominations still don't get a Best Picture nom? LOL!

I'll be happy to settle for "minor" Oscar winners accepting their awards in the audience if we can keep the five nominees.

quote:

Originally posted by LonePirate:

quote:

Originally posted by Pucifer:
For the most recent ceremony, the Academy would have been hard pressed to come up with ten, let alone five, best picture nominees!

I disagree here. If garbage like The Reader can obtain a nomination, then finding five equally undeserving films will be no problem. People forget that there were at least 2-3 other films that deserved that fifth nomination long before The Reader did.

I would have much preferred "WALL-E" and/or "The Dark Knight" take the place of the bland, dull "The Reader" but I still think it would have been hard to come up with ten nominees. I would prefer they revise the weird ballot system that can let a film like "The Reader" in over more deserving and likely more widely supported nominees than add five more films to the list of nominees.

I hope this stunt gets old fast and they return to five films... even if it inevitably means some very good films will be out of the best picture race. This is the Oscars not the Golden Globes!

quote:

Originally posted by seanflynn:

There will be films nominated for best picture with no other nominations - watch that happen.

This happened repeatedly during the early days of the Oscars when they had ten nominees.

Holy s---!

That's insane. But I can't wait to see what "ten" they come up with. The uproar over all that they snubbed for 2008 seems to have caught up with them, among other years.

I think that there needed to be some sort of change when it came to the Academy Awards, but if this is what they think is a good change then good riddance.

There is no question that the pressure to market/advertise more films will increase, and possibly cost more than they make.

It also will dilute the impact of a nomination.

I am stunned that so conservative an organization would make this change. But I am more stunned that they did this quietly, with no public discussion. I assume (maybe wrongly) that they discussed this with a few highersup in the studios, but my guess - and I'll check with some members - is that there may be some negative reaction to doing this without wide member input.

It also means that a whole lot of change in the future is possible - the doors have now been opened to this.

I'll not be surprise if next year they announce 10 nominees for every category.

I find it odd that the biggest prize of the night can be won with the smallest percentage of votes.