By Lee Pfeiffer
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that they will expand the best picture Oscar nominee category from five films to ten. The Academy feels this will result in a more equitable and broader selection of films. Movie fans have long griped that the Academy is too elite when it comes to recognizing the merits of movies that become financial blockbusters. The controversy reached a boiling point last year when the highly acclaimed Batman pic
The Dark Knight was ignored in most of the major categories despite being a critical success. There had been a time when popular blockbusters like
Airport, The Towering Inferno and
Jaws would place among the best picture nominees, but in more recent years, art house films have often dominated the category. There are other pluses for A.M.P.A.S in that the inclusion of more popular titles among the best picture nominees might help improve ratings, which have been sagging in recent years. However, no other categories will be expanded and the best director nominees will still be restricted to five. Industry types realize that in all probability, the eventual best picture winner will almost certainly derive from one of those five nominees' films. The change in rules actually is a reversion back to the years 1931-1943 when the best picture category had ten films. For more
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