In case you didn't know, the Academy has added 5 more nomination spots to the Best Picture category. So 10 films will be nominated. Voters will have 10 films to choose from.
At first glance this seems like an awful idea. Can you think of 10 great films from last year? Won't that just water down the competition? What's the point of having a best foreign film category or "Best Animated"? Doesn't that cheapen their nominations? People say.
But I like it. I mean, let's face it, just because your movie is long, emotional, dramatic, and has great cinematography, doesn't mean your film should have a leg up in the Oscar run. Especially when your film is blown away by the cinematic experience that was The Dark Knight, or even something like Iron Man. Did anyone see "The Reader" last year - I yawned at the cover (and I'm not one to skip over dramatic fair for popcorn adventures either).
Those films aren't taken seriously, in fact it's extremely hard to get noticed in the major categories with a scifi, fantasy, comic book, or even animation merely because of their genre. With opening to ten we will begin to see these films that speak to us in different forms. I find this extremely important. No longer will you need to be a huge studio drama or an indie darling looking to settle for best screenplay and grounded in reality.
The real benefactor here is the Academy, and film in general as a business. Some believe that lengthening the category means lengthening the broadcast. This, to them, equals less viewers.
I have to whole-heartedly disagree! You see, the problem with viewers is not that they don't have attention spans, it's that with the internet, our attention spans are becoming more focused. We are seeing clear divisions within genres (comedy: romantic comedies, bromances, buddy pics, parody, mockumentary, etc) because audiences are able to more clearly find what it is they are interested in. Therefore, there are less viewers because there are less people interested in the subject matter. I don't mean celebrities or movies in general. I mean that movies like "The Reader" aren't interesting to people, and they don't see it as a "great" achievement in film making if it doesn't interest them.
I'm not advocating "Transformers" being nominated for Best Picture, or even trying to appeal to mass markets in general - that's what the MTV Movie Awards are for.
What I'm saying is that there is a GREAT NEED to select more films for best picture because the category is so subjective anyway, and our subjects have divided greatly. Therefore there is a need for more representation across the board.
People will tune in because they will now have their favorite in the race. The south and central states (a traditionally tough sale for the Academy) will double their viewership from The Blindside. The other hard market for films to sell to, black Americans, will double in viewers from Precious. Two deserving films to be in the running for Best Picture, but hardly a chance when only five films would be nominated.
Another unusual nominations who will bring more people in who usually wouldn't bother, District 9, a sci-fi action film, part fake documentary, part traditional thriller. This is the "dark-horse" in the race. This could possibly win by the other films knocking each other off the top spot.
With 5 nominations we'd have five traditional "bland" choices (not bland movies, I'm sure - but obvious Oscar-darlings non-the-less). Now we have films we really care about in the race, and a more interesting race all together.
The winners, again, will be the studios. Now 10 films get to put that all-important wreath icon on their DVD covers. This has proven to be a major push in DVD sales and will help more DVDs sell across the board.
Theaters win here, too. Like Gladiator a few years back, a summer movie was re-released into the theaters after it was nominated for best picture, and it made more money for the studio and the theaters from repeat and brand new viewers.
Another group of winners? Advertisers. It's been the popular trend to treat the nomination like a political affair. The more money spent on advertising with "Pick me! Pick me!" the better chance you have of winning. Now 10 films - 10 production companies - will be spending a LOT more money to fight for space in Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, on TV, on billboards, etc. More advertising dollars spent means more money spread out. And we are talking tens of millions of dollar bills.
When you look at it, it's a a win for Uhmurica, people. DVD sales means retail movement, theaters get more, ad space skyrockets, people go to work here, people.
Economy: Win.
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