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RSSThe Academy Awards will expand the competition for Best Picture award, by bumping up the eligible list of movies from five to 10.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is actually taking the Oscars back to their historic roots in doing so. Sid Ganis, AMPAS president, said: "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… The final outcome will be the same – one Best Picture winner – but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five movies, from 2009."
In 1944, there were 10 films in the running for the centerpiece award – and the Best Picture went to … Casablanca.
Ganis continued: "Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognise 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."
He added: "The field is vast – there were around 300 eligible movies this year and last and 10 nominees out of 300 is still spectacular. It’ll be less cloistered and more open with possibilities."
The announcement got a warm reception in Hollywood. LA Times critic Tom O’Neil, wrote:
"They’ve got to do something to make the show more sexy and hip and expanding the Best Picture race is a brilliant solution."
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