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Oscars Will Now Feature 10 Best Picture Nominees

Posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 by Devindra Hardawar

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In yet another attempt at maintaining the Academy Awards’ relevance, the Motion Picture Academy announced today that there will be 10 films competing for Best Picture at next year’s 82nd ceremony. This is the first time since 1943 that the Best Picture category has had so many contenders, and it seems to be a return to the earlier years of the Academy where it was not uncommon to have more than 5 nominees.

The move is clearly a follow up to the Academy’s revamping of the ceremony this year with Hugh Jackman, and will allow more crowd-friendly films to be in the running for best pic. I wouldn’t be surprised if a good number of the choices next year have no chance of winning at all. It’s a smart move that will generate more public interest in the Oscars, and I can already see the mouths frothing of  fanboys and girls everywhere.

President of the Academy, Sid Ganis, had this to say on the change:

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. I can’t wait to see what that list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February.

The 82nd Academy Awards noms will be announced on February 2, 2010.

Discuss: Will this change make you more, or less interested in the Oscars? What else can the Academy do to help make the awards more relevant?

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  • The Academy could, oh, I don't know, nominate quality films like The Dark Knight, The Wrestler or Wall-E instead of The Reader and shit like that. This is just going to cheapen the Academy Awards, as if they weren't cheap enough.
  • cry
  • What does it mean...?
  • NightAvatar
    Um.. The Reader was in fact an EXCELLENT movie! What are you smoking?
  • Swarley
    I'm pretty sure that's EXACTLY what this new change is going to deal with. So this next year you should get what you want.
  • This is just going to make winning my oscar pool so much harder.

    Though I really like this news as it gives lesser known movies a chance to steal the win.

    EDIT: but this will make the show six million hours long.
  • wittyphrase
    See, I think this is going to do the exact opposite. All that's going to happen here is this will present the illusion of giving lesser known movies a shot at the win while the same old films still get the Hollywood hand job.
  • Christian
    I think it's good to allow movie that are big amongst people, with lots of fan appreciation, to be in the running for the Best Picture. Even if there is a dim chance of winning, itll be sure to please alot of people. I was so excited when I heard last year that Robert Downey Jr. was up for an Oscar for his role in Tropic Thunder. I knew Heath Ledger would take the category, but still, it made things interesting.
    Also, it says they will be revealed February 2nd 2009. Should be 2010?
  • /ambient
    That would've been great last year.
  • sideshowRaheem
    Doesn't this just make the nomination less prestigious? I'm not sure there are 9 films a year that deserve to put that "nominated for best picture" sticker on the DVD case.
  • Edward
    You hit the nail right on the head there. I could see adding another spot, maybe two..... but doubling it is outright rediculous.
  • Poland626
    I love the oscars, if it sucks or not, but the ONLY gripe I have is the songs. WTF was that having 3 songs last year and 2 from the same movie? THEN! They don't even play the full songs but instead 60 second clips. I say out of all the catagories that one needs to be fixed most.
  • optimusprime
    agree, I hate when that happens. Nominating a movie twice in the same category.
  • Poland626
    Yeah, that needs to be a rule too. No two nominations for the same film in the same catagory, maybe except for Acting.
  • I agree. It feels like every year, there's that one movie that has 2-3 songs running for Best Music.
  • NightAvatar
    That's because the category should be dropped. It was added back when many of the big movies were musicals. What's the point of it now?
  • Swarley
    BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN WAS ROBBED!
  • DRF
    Michael Bay can get a best picture nod now. yay....
  • CharlesD
    Makes sense, Globes put up 10 or more for their 2 split categories. This should fix the movies being snubbed and do away with runaway winners
  • "The 82nd Academy Awards noms will be announced on February 2, 2009."

    um... 2010 maybe?
  • Nice looking out, fixed.
  • I see where they're going with this and they have good intentions, and maybe some good things will come of it (like Pixar FINALLY getting a nomination). But trying to please everyone doesn't usually turn out too well. One of the things that comes with every Oscar season is the "controversy" surrounding which films got snubbed. Last year it happened with quite a few films. But people were talking/arguing about the Oscars. Isn't that what they want?
    Yes, it sucks not everyone can be nominated, but I think they should keep it at five. I will fall asleep the second they begin a sentence with "and the nominees are..." and wake up half an hour later.
  • Seems to be inspired by the Dark Knight snub last year. This is great for the Academy because more films can be noticed and brought to the public eye. Dark knight, wall e, and Wrestler would have made it last year. I think pixar has a good chance with Up this year now.
  • burton
    Andrew,
    I don't understand your comment: "This is great for the Academy because more films can be noticed and brought to the public eye. Dark knight, wall e, and Wrestler would have made it last year." I hardly think that The Dark Knight, Wall-e, and The Wrestler needed to be "brought to the public eye". I don't understand what films you're referring too.
  • Oh Sorry - Those are meant to be two different topics. Those are the movies I thought would have made it in last year. I just kind of jumbled my ramblings together as one thing - whoops. I was saying for other years it may allow an indie film that many people haven't heard about get nominated, and now TEN films can lay claim on their DVDs that they were a best pic nominee. It will also increase viewership if a blockbuster gets nominated, and it may finally end the "what got snubbed" debate because if you don't make the top 10, well you probably didn't deserve it. But there will always be arguements I guess so who knows.
  • burton
    Oh I get you. I agree.
  • Anrkist
    I think Slumdog was rather unknown at the time. I think it's borderline Indie and look at the fanfare it generated based on the win. I'm hoping the Academy is finally seeing the light and not just giving nominations to big production films.
  • Why does it have to be a set number? There should be as many nominations as there are worthy contenders. Like say if a movie attains a certain percentage of pre-award votes (I believe that's how they do it now... right?) then it should be a nominee. I think it's going to be ridiculous if there are 10 nominees and a few of them are just obvious place holders because they had a set number of nominations to fill.

    This seems like some weird late June April Fool's Joke or something...
  • Swarley
    This is exactly what I was going to post. Ten seems like too high of a number, they should just nominate as many as they want.
  • Meli_V
    On one hand opening up the catagory to more pictures is good, after all, most critics offer up Top 10 lists towards the end of each year. On the other hand I think 10 pictures nominated is too many.
    It will certainly split up the votes, so we may have more unexpected winners and the studios may spend more money on campaigns if they feel they have a better chance at a golden statue.
  • If anything this will make me more interested. It's always a shame for some movies to miss out of at least being nominated. This way they will be and still not have a chance to win. This has worked on me.
  • meyer
    There's nothing that can make the Oscars relevant anymore. Rewarding niche work in an industry driven by mass appeal is ridiculous, and focusing it almost entirely on the output of a small handful of countries with the barest of nods at the rest of the world is offensive to billions.
  • doc_brown
    The academy should nominate only as many films as deserve a nomination. 10 should be a limit, not a set number. Use the nomination process to determine how many films get recognized -- that way it doesn't cheapen the ceremony by nominating films that clearly have no chance of winning nor devalue receiving a nomination by giving one to an inferior film. I'm not sure there will ever be 10 film truly worthy of "best picture" unless the academy starts accepting foreign films at possible nominees.
  • Marko
    I can guarantee that because of this decision, there will be at least one ridiculous "Why was THAT film nominated?" nomination to be anounced next year.
  • Alek
    It won't change a thing, only the number of nominees. Crap movies will still be the ones to win the Oscar, but as long as the Academy recognizes quality movies, this somehow makes everyone happy?

    I would have opted to reduce the number of nominees to 3. Are there really going to be 10 movies each year worthy enough to be nominated? They just realize that by not nominating The Dark Knight, they lost a HUGE amount of viewers. Isn't the whole nomination part all politics and campaigning anyway? Do smaller even better movies have a chance to win?

    Lame.
  • I'm not sure if I really like that they already decided on 10 nominees. I'm all for nominating more films if they actually deserve it, but what if there are really only 7 or 8 films that deserve to be nominated?
  • Lynwood
    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science doubling the number of best picture nominees! Who knows? I know a comedy film that will be among the nominees!! I can see it now! This film yielding much and receiving an immediate return. I am telling you it will bring to the table drama, comedy and suspense. Hilariously funny causing both the muscles in your face and stomach to tighten up from laughing so hard.

    Some might even fall from their seats. Believe me! You will not be able to keep a straight face. I suggest that you use the restroom first before you enter into this movie. Why? Because you will not be able to hold what is longing inside you. You will release it from cracking up. Yes Sir! The remake of Sanford and Son! THE MOVIE!! The right cast! Hey!! There is a guy that sound like Fred G. Sanford on youtube.com/healingprophet
  • Clint
    What the hell is this ramble all about? Is this a joke? Some weird pseudo-spam for a youtube channel? I'm totally confused at the patent absurdity of this comment...
  • CWARD321
    THE HANGOVER. "so your saying theres a chance!"
  • Renegade Jones
    At the very least, hopefully this will make things a little less predictable. As good as last year's show was, there weren't any serious surprise winners other than Departures and arguably Sean Penn.
  • haroldsmaude
    Wow. What a shock. I'm in my 50s and I've only known the Oscars to feature 5 Best Picture nominations. I'm so used to the annual bitchfest about who was left out, not that this will completely stop that. I'm wondering if it will affect the outcome, ultimately. Have a bigger pool that seems more equitable for attention to good work. But, siphon and distribute the voting leaving the opportunity for a different winner than if there were fewer nominations?
  • One year to late...
  • tenno
    I guess it could be a good idea to get more people interested in the Oscars on the whole. Also will allow in movies not normally included due to popularity at the time and be a good way to get them more exposure. However the way this year has been shaping up finding 5 strong contenders much less 10 is going to be an issue. It would be nice if Best Picture category maybe was expanded to include animated and foreign language films and really represent BEST picture.
  • NightAvatar
    Absolutely! But I guess they throw one in there every few years, ala Beauty And The Beast and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Still, not NEARLY enough and certainly doesn't represent the BEST picture of the year. Maybe best Hollywood picture or best American-made picture.
  • Jezza
    A lot of the previous nominees were British films. Many brits were pissed off that Forest Gump won in 1994 because one of the other nominees was a British comedy called Four Weddings and a Funeral, which beat Forest Gump to best film at the Baftas.
  • abergamo
    as long as the nominees actually consist of good movies, unlike the way the MTV movie awards coughtwilightcough.
  • Marco
    A lot of people on the internet and critics like to make top 10 movies of the year list. So why not Oscars?

    I guess it means more chance for people to sound smart by criticizing movies that obviously won't win best picture. Also, more people complaining about more commercial movies being nominated or not winning. Being nominated should be enough.

    I don't really see any obvious Oscar potentials this year though. So this will be interesting.
  • Dylan
    If only this came one year earlier. Dark Knight, Wall-E, and The Wrestler were so much more deserving than "The Reader" and "Frost/Nixon"
  • burton
    I enjoyed all 5 films you listed. The Academy Awards are industry related recognition. Peers recognizing peers. That means that if you don't work within that industry you are not qualified or eligible to vote. You may of liked The Dark Knight more than you liked The Reader but your opinion is of no concern. Remember this is peers recognizing peers.
  • You mean February 2, 2010, right?
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