God this is terrible news...sure more films we love will get in but it will just be for show, they will still have no chance in hell at winning as IMDb pointed out I think we can say Up has a pretty damn good shot now at a nod...
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TERRIBLE news.... I just can't see how 10 nominees are relevant. It takes away the prestige of being in a top 5. Now its like a critics top 10... or like the BFCA nominations and nothing more! Hell, the Academy and BFCA are more than likely going to choose the same 10 films every year (possibly) and it also takes fun out of predicting the Oscars every year! Instead of debating what's going to be left out, etc - all we can do is put the 8 strong contenders there, and two possibly unpredictable and unconventional choices... But it doesn't matter, because that means the winner will still come out on top! For example, "The Dark Knight" could have gotten nominated last year through this, but that doesn't mean "Slumdog Millionaire" wouldn't have still won... It's a very bad idea, I think, and my reason for it is because, well, its kinda pointless....
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I agree completely Douglas this is a terrible idea. Plus haha I think I;m like the leader of The Dark Knight Best film of 08 bandwagon and actually it bugged me more that Nolan got snubbed then the film I kind of was expecting TDK to get snubbed for Picture but I thought Nolan actually had a shot at winning Best Director. Also if last year there had been 10 nods I still would have felt they only threw TDK in there to please people and it would have no shot at winning so this is jsut a bad move on all levels.
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....at The Oscar Hut where we have a poll up plus an article on this Academy decision. soon, up at the site My predicitons will be changed to include this new 10 rule, and other stories will be up soon.
www.theoscarhut.blogspot.com
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i agree with Andrew and Douglas 100%- this is just too bad. now, being a Best Picture nominee will simply not mean as much in and of itself. plus, there will still be the frontrunner, 2 maybe 3 possible winners, and about 6-7 with no shot at all. very, very bad call Academy.
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I completely agree that this is the worst things that's come from the Academy since TDK wasn't nominated...
Apart from ratings, what the hell is the point of doing this? I mean, sure, "Funny People" may be nominated now (depending on what the response to it is) or maybe even a film like "Star Trek" could get in, but first of all, it takes away from the prestige and on top of that it seems like it'd be more of a frenzied process rather than a decision which is more unanimous.
- Josh
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I think its a great idea. Gives movies ,that the Oscars usually snub, some much needed limelight. Blockbusters are loved as much as lower budget/intellectual films. And why can't movies like Star Trek or Funny People win?, if an audience feels compelled by what they see enough to call it their "favorite movie" or "awesome", that should make it eligible for some praise & glory
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WOW this is actually the stupidest thing the academy has done..."Best Picture Nominee" now doesnt have the same ring. If this is a response to TDK then that is just plain dumb. I thought TDK was the best picture of 2008 but stick with 5 nominees and dont seem like you're indecisive
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I keep going back and forth on whether this sits well with me. It obviously does take away the prestige of being a "best picture" nominee...but that kinda makes the Best Director category more exciting and a more coveted nomination...and it kinda indicates which 5 best pic nominees are the top.
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You guys are completely wrong, this will make the category even more competitive because more films that would never before have stood a chance at a nomination will be throwing their names into the fold and fighting for a nod. Theres never been any complaining when critics groups put out a top ten and then announce a winner, just think of it the same way.
These ten films are the ten best of the year according to this group the Oscars, and then the members of this group will vote for what they believe to be the best. I guarantee you that with this rule in place, votes will be split and there will be suprising winners as a result. With more possobilities to chose from, the likelyhood that Academy members will vote on their own personal favorite will skyrocket which is a good thing, rather than have members vote on the more popular movie when their favorite is not a choice on the ballot. I guarrantee that had this been in place last year with say The Dark Knight, Wall-e, The Wrestler, Doubt and Gran Torino as the other five, Slumdog Millionaire would not have been as much of a sure thing to win, especially since the older members could have gotten behind Gran Torino, while the Actors may have put their weight behind The Wrestler and all other groups could have came behind Wall-e or The Dark Knight.
With 10 nominees in place, voters would probably be more inclined to vote based on their own oppinion rather than succumb to a Slumdog like sheep mentality. And by doing this, the odds of a better movie or a more unique film winning would be exponentially greater.
Over at my blog The Oscar Hut, the first part of my State of The Race: Best Picture 2009 article is up detailing in alphabetical order the ten movies I think will be nominated, from Avatar to Up. Along with this article there are polls, reviews, predictions, site links and much more. So come check it out and let me know what you think wheter it be a sentence or a three page e-mail positive or negative, whatever it may be, only at The Oscar Hut
You guys are being harsh about this. I love the idea. For once the right films will be nominated. I am sick and tired of these particular films being snubbed and garbage getting in. And people need to stop acting as if films like Bride Wars are going to be nominated because of this, let's be serious. More competition, more excitement, and maybe AMPAS will get their wish and bring the ratings up.
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1) We dont know that just because they expanded it to 10 that they wont still nominate The Reader's
2) Too what does it matter if a film gets "nominated"? If it has not a tiny little chance of winning if last year say Man on Wire or Iron Man was nominated we would all know there was no chance in hell in winning and if you dont have a chance theres really no point in being nominated except to stretch the category and mooch viewers...
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...and a third thing to add...they are doing this for two reasons 1 viewers, 2 as reaction to I'm sure the thousands of letters of "how the hell could you not nominate The Dark Knight" they received and they are trying to rectify their mistake...if you want to fix a mistake fix it...how is adding space so The Dark Knight WOULD HAVE been nominated but still having no chance at winning fixing anything...in order to fix their mistakes the only thing to do would be actually change the nominees...but there not gonna o that are we, so there just gonna hope that 95% of the world is stupid(which they are Master and Commander and G-Force is proof of that)and people will be dumb and go "oh now [insert film that has no chance here] can be nominated and might win, but in reality has no chance at winning...
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we don't know if blockbusters stand a chance yet, but maybe if The Dark Knight or Iron Man had been nominated, their studios would have campaigned the films diffrently-- like so many award-friendly movies do. And the whole idea that only the best pictures nominees with director nominations are valid -- is silly. There is always room for an upset, Crash ring any bells.
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First of all, they are doing this for one reason and one reason only, to get the ratings up. It's people like you who are making this out to be a reaction to The Dark Knight's snub. That notion is ridiculous, as we have no proof to show TDK was even close to getting nominated. Two, never did I say they weren't gonna nominate Reader's, of course they are, but this time there will be a chance that much more deserving films will also have a great chance to get in. We might finally see animated films and foreign films get in this time around. God knows AMPAS has snubbed plenty of those (Wall-E, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly). It's tiresome to see these "academy films" shove the more deserving films. You should know that Andrew. Look, in the end there will be one winner, that's not gonna change. Deep inside, I think it's unnecessary to have 10 nominees, but I'm open to it and everyone should do the same because we are still having 10 NOMINEES COME MARCH 2010!
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Also, this argument about the film's chances is also ridiculous. Do all the film's have an equal chance of winning? No. Did you really believe Frost/Nixon or even The Reader had a chance of winning?, I certainly didn't.
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Exactly, neither one of them had a chance of winning. So what's the point in expanding that void of films which will be nominated but never truly awarded?
In my opinion, if you're going to nominate something, nominate it. This expansion takes much of the mysticism and greatness of what being one of the top five films of the year truly is. I also believe that there will be more possibilities such as "The Reader" which will end up being nominated (like "Cheri" this year).
And to respond to an earlier post from an anonymous, it'd be great if films like "Star Trek" were nominated, but only if they have a chance to win. In my opinion, it's the best film I've seen so far this year, and I'd love to see it nominated. It could be now, but does it have a shot? No, not really.
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I think there is one minor and one major reason (the minor influenced the major) the Academy decided to go this route:
Minor: Even though most people in the voting community didn't even consider The Dark Knight as Best Picture material, the public did. People were honestly upset that TDK was snubbed and I believe their voices were heard...
Major: Although their ratings for this past ceremony were better than previous years, they still were pretty weak. Expanding the category to ten allows some fan favorites a chance to get in, thus creating buzz for the ceremony, which (they hope) will lead to higher ratings.
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Here's a related point (which doesn't add much I admit to the current discussion) which many of you probably know. The Academy has done this before. From 1933-1943 there were ten nominees every year for Best Picture and five for everything else. There were actually 12 nominees in the years 1934 and 1935.
The result was that you had some smaller films get in there and get some attention they otherwise would not have gotten. They never won though. You had a lot of movies nominated for Best Picture and nothing else.
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Every year i look foward to the Oscar race. For me its the most exciting time and its like having a presidential race every single year. I watch as my favorite films and the critics favorite films battle eachother with the precursor awards and other prestigious awards until it builds enough momentum to have a shot at the oscars. Last year I championed movies like WALL-E, the Wrestler, the Dark Knight, Milk and other films.
When the nominations were announced last year i was very angry with the academy and their choices. It seems the Academy has listened to the fans and did what they thought was best-but it wasn't what i was looking for. Instead of becoming more open minded by choosing more radical and unique films they thought it would be a good idea to just nominated for films (that way they figure they will have a better chance at covering most of the films that we want). By doing this the academy is almost assured more viewers come oscar night.
The Oscar race has now lost some of its excitement as now come oscar time, there will be many films that will already be guarenteed a spot in the nominations.
I view this as a cowardly move by the academy. That might not be the right move to describe it but in my mind by doing this the academy has made once again another poor decision.
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