The Academy Awards will be adopting a part of its past when the show airs March 7, 2010. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis has announced that the Best Picture category will double to include 10 nominations instead of the standard five.
The practice of nominating 10 movies ended in 1943, when Casablanca beat out 9 other movies to win Best Picture. At a press conference, Ganis explained the change:
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. Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to
recognize 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. I can't wait to see what that
list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February.
Had the Oscars included 10 nominations last year, Slumdog Millionaire might have had some competition from The Dark Knight and Wall-E.
The nominations for the Academy Awards will take place February 2, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA.