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Oscars' Best Pictures Nominees To Go From 5 To 10... (1 Viewer)

John Kilduff

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It's been a while since I've started any threads, but I saw this on the IMDB front page and knew immediately that it had to be posted:

BREAKING: Oscar’s Best Picture Nominees Will Expand to Ten – RopeofSilicon.com Movie News, Trailers, Reviews and More

So, what thoughts do you guys have on the subject? I'm torn. On the one hand, it would add some more excitement to the proceedings. On the other hand, it would multiply the disappointment by 9 (If my math is correct), because there's still going to be only one winner for Best Picture.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

I wonder if this means that there will be 10 director slots as well.
 

Bryan Tuck

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Interesting. I guess I don't really have strong feelings about it one way or another, but it's certainly going to make the show longer, unless they cut something else.

I just wish they'd expand Visual Effects and Sound Editing at to five nominees instead of just three.
 

Zack Gibbs

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I think that for those, and many other categories, the number of nominees is based on the number of submitted films, so they can go up if it is warranted.
 

mattCR

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I think this damn near guarantees Up! will get a nod, there will be no excuse this year. And that's a good thing.

I think it also means a lot of less-then-deserving films will be in contention.
 

Patrick Sun

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So a film with 11% of the total vote in its category could possibly win an Oscar (if the rest of the nominees get 10% or slightly less)?
 

Pete-D

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10 is a little overkill I think. Expanding it by maybe one or two slots would've been more than fine.

I think there are probably some ratings politics at work here, they want to be able to nominate some of the more popular films (like say last year's "The Dark Knight") to get people to tune in, but odds are they're not winning anyway, they're just making it look more inclusive.
 

TheBat

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the real question.. can you name 10 movies that should be on the list at this time? I can only think of two: star trek and up. I doubt that watchmen would have a chance.

Jacob
 

Brian W.

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Well, no, because most of the "Oscar" films are released at the end of the year. And I personally wouldn't put "Star Trek" on the list.
 

Brandon Conway

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Interesting. Limiting the Best Picture category to five nominees started with the 1944 films (1945 Oscars). Before then, it was 10 for a decade, and even up to 12 at one point (years are for nominated films, not ceremony):

1927-28 – 6 (2 awards - 3 nominees for Production, 3 nominees for Unique and Artistic Production)
1928-29 – 5
1929-30 – 5
1930-31 – 5
1931-32 – 8
1932-33 – 10
1934 – 12
1935 – 12
1936 – 10
1937 – 10
1938 – 10
1939 – 10
1940 – 10
1941 – 10
1942 - 10
1943 - 10

Sure it's a marketing ploy (the Oscars themselves are a marketing ploy), but it will get other deserving films, such as small films (In Bruges), animated films (WALL*E), and deserving Blockbuster genre films (The Dark Knight) nominations.

Of course, 2009 might be the worst year to do it. So far, things are looking pretty week, other than Up. Could this open the door for something like Star Trek?
 

Pete-D

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Star Trek honestly does not deserve a nod even with 10 spots.

Yes the characters are likable and yes it's fresh (then again 5 day old tuna casserole is probably fresh compared to the relative stale Trek of recent years) ... but honestly that plot/story isn't much better than Star Trek Nemesis. Lame time travel plot device, lame villain, convenient coincidences, sometimes incoherent plotting. Even a lot of the positive reviews acknowledge the story isn't the greatest (small detail I guess).

You're really lowering the bar if the criteria becomes "well ... it was a decent summer flick so lets nominate it".

If Avatar is actually a strong film, I think it could benefit from this new "expanded field". I still think even with an expanded field, you should still have to have a strong story (not just "well it was decent for its genre or relative to expectations") to get an Oscar nomination.

If there aren't 10 Hollywood pictures worthy of a nomination then for gawd's sake, give some foreign films a shot.
 

Brandon Conway

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They have always been eligible if they met the category criteria (theatrically distributed in Los Angeles within the year). Such films as Z, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Il Postino have been best picture nominees.
 

Pete-D

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Well hopefully it doesn't dissolve into just anything that's a hit getting nominated.

Oscar nominations should still be reserved for films that have strong story, strong character, and some semblance of a theme. I would say even with a 10 movie field, still only the landmark "summer blockbusters" should even be considered (ie: The Matrix or Terminator 2 ... perhaps ... Star Trek or Iron Man? No).

Yes, foreign films have been nominated in the past. Maybe this means we'll see more of that. Also perhaps comedy can get more nominations now too.
 

Jason Seaver

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I'm all for it. Granted, I personally find the nominations more worthwhile than the winner - a list of the year's best films is useful and interesting; singling one out often feels arbitrary. I also think that having ten nominees for Best Picture but not the other awards will have positive side effects - a broader range of movies will be nominated (including more animated, foreign, and independent films - and, who knows, maybe even comedies!), for starts. I also think that will make it harder for a single movie to dominate the nominations and awards.

The Oscars are, after all, a promotional tool. It helps the industry and movies as a medium if they can be used to highlight a lot of good films, rather than just a few.
 

Pete-D

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Oh, boy, the backlash to that would be rich.

Never say never with the Academy undermining certain genres/styles of filmmaking, but I think that would be too much even for them.
 

Jace_A

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Expect a Best Kiss Award in 2012. This is all about getting 15 year olds to watch the ceremony. I wouldn't rule out a nomination for "Year One".
 

Brent M

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This idea is just ridiculous IMHO. I can see expanding it to six or seven nominees, but ten is over the top and completely unnecessary as far as I'm concerned.
 

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