The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that beginning next year, the category of Best Picture at the Oscars will have ten nominees instead of the customary five. The official explanation is that the Board of Governors felt that last year, they had more than five qualified contenders and they thought it was a shame that good movies didn't get that special recognition of nomination.
Rough translation: Some number of powerful filmmakers and major studios pressured the Academy because they want the prestige and promotional value that comes with the nomination. A large reason for any award ceremony of this kind is to hype the product. The Academy probably also figures that it'll bolster interest in the Oscars if there are nominations for films like The Dark Knight and Iron Man. I don't mean movies based on comic books. I mean movies with a more populist appeal…the kind that traditionally get shut out of the nominations by films with loftier themes.
I don't know how this will go over. If we wind up with ten superior nominees this year, it might look like a good idea. If something with Adam Sandler in it snags a Best Picture nomination, it might not. Five is just an arbitrary number. They had five nominees in years when there were twelve great movies and five nominees in years with three great films. Now, ten will be the arbitrary number. It has changed in the past. It may change again. If it sticks around a while, we'll probably see more nominees in the other categories. And then the Oscar telecast can run another hour or two.