{"id":1480,"date":"2009-06-25T00:04:22","date_gmt":"2009-06-25T04:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480"},"modified":"2025-09-14T06:37:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T10:37:55","slug":"will-twice-the-best-picture-oscar-nominees-mean-twice-as-many-good-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480","title":{"rendered":"Will Twice the Best Picture Oscar Nominees Mean Twice as Many Good Movies?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who says Hollywood doesn’t have a sense of humor (aside from anyone who sat through Land of the Lost or Imagine That)? In the middle of a summer movie season packed with sequels, 3-D\u00a0kiddie distractions, and SFX showcases based on toys that the scripters probably played with in the 1980s, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on\u00a0June 24th\u00a0that, beginning in 2010, \u00a0it will double the finalists for the Best Picture Academy Award from five films\u00a0to 10, a number it used–more or less–from 1932 to 1943.<\/p>\n

Call this the Joker’s final revenge. Every February, a large segment of the moviegoing\u00a0public sits down to watch at least some of the three-plus hours that is the annual Oscars broadcast, and by the time the show gets to Best Picture, those still awake may\u00a0wonder why box-office favorites, such as 2008’s The Dark Knight<\/a>, get passed\u00a0over in favor of\u00a0less popular, but more sophisticated, fare like Frost\/Nixon<\/a> or The Reader<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Said Academy president Sid Ganis, “Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow 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.”\u00a0 Could Ganis have been referring\u00a0to 2008 nominees\u00a0Australia<\/a>, Wanted<\/a> and Kung Fu Panda<\/a>?Probably not.<\/p>\n

No, what this expansion\u00a0more likely means is that the major studios are getting a sop thrown their way. Now when the producers of arthouse films like Slumdog, No Country for Old Men<\/a>, and Crash<\/a> step up to claim their golden statues, the corporations behind your summer blockbusters and star-driven vehicles will have five more chances to plaster “Best Picture Nominee” in newspaper ads and rake in a few extra bucks, if not in theatres, then perhaps on home video.<\/p>\n

On the positive side, it may, at least, offer more comedies a shot at the brass ring, since the genre is perenially bypassed as not being “prestigious” enough. A more interesting tack for the Academy to take would have been to follow the example of the much-maligned Golden Globe Awards, which separate the Best Picture and Actor\/Actress laurels by drama and comedy\/musical.<\/p>\n

The most ironic note about this announcement is that it comes during the 70th anniversary of the year that many consider\u00a0the apex of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The Best Picture finalists for 1939 included\u00a0Mr. Smith Goes to Washington<\/a>, Ninotchka<\/a>, Of Mice and Men<\/a>, Stagecoach<\/a>, The Wizard of Oz<\/a>, Wuthering Heights, and the eventual\u00a0 winner, a little Civil war tale called Gone with the Wind<\/a>.\u00a0Among the\u00a0films not even nominated <\/em>that year were Beau Geste, Gunga Din, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Hunchback of Notre Dame,\u00a0 Intermezzo,\u00a0 and The Roaring Twenties. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that the list for 2009\u00a0won’t be quite\u00a0in the same league.<\/p>\n

Even so, Michael Bay, don’t go making room on that office mantel for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’s Best Picture Oscar just yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who says Hollywood doesn’t have a sense of humor (aside from anyone who sat through Land of the Lost or Imagine That)? In the middle of a summer movie season packed with sequels, 3-D\u00a0kiddie distractions, and SFX showcases based on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":49986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1509],"coauthors":[1720],"class_list":["post-1480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staff-notes","tag-academy-awards"],"yoast_head":"\nWill Twice the Best Picture Oscar Nominees Mean Twice as Many Good Movies? - MovieFanFare<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, nofollow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will Twice the Best Picture Oscar Nominees Mean Twice as Many Good Movies? - MovieFanFare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who says Hollywood doesn’t have a sense of humor (aside from anyone who sat through Land of the Lost or Imagine That)? In the middle of a summer movie season packed with sequels, 3-D\u00a0kiddie distractions, and SFX showcases based on...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MovieFanFare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Movies-Unlimited\/88679322377\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-25T04:04:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-14T10:37:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Oscars-e1757846162407.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"283\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"299\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gary Cahall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gary Cahall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gary Cahall\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480\"},\"headline\":\"Will Twice the Best Picture Oscar Nominees Mean Twice as Many Good Movies?\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-25T04:04:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-14T10:37:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480\"},\"wordCount\":509,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Oscars-e1757846162407.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Academy Awards\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Staff Notes\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480\",\"name\":\"Will Twice the Best Picture Oscar Nominees Mean Twice as Many Good Movies? - MovieFanFare\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Oscars-e1757846162407.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-25T04:04:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-14T10:37:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Oscars-e1757846162407.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Oscars-e1757846162407.jpg\",\"width\":283,\"height\":299},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=1480#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Will Twice the Best Picture Oscar Nominees Mean Twice as Many Good Movies?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"MovieFanFare\",\"description\":\"Movie Articles, Movie Reviews, New DVD Releases\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480\",\"name\":\"Gary Cahall\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g5143b3427c8003c3e81a9804e133cb59\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gary Cahall\"},\"description\":\"Trapped in a world he never made...Movies Unlimited...since 1982, Gary's knack for mocking customers' tastes in films quickly moved him from the rental counter to the catalog department, where he still serves as co-writer\\\/editor, playing by his own rules in a deadly game of cat and mouse. A lifelong fan of Alfred Hitchcock, the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges, Universal and Hammer horror films, and all things dinosaur- and superhero-related, his 2001 bantering with Regis Philbin pops up now and again on GSN. Gary's not ashamed to admit he cried at the end of Titanic, after realizing he had just wasted three hours of his life.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com?author_name\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Will Twice the Best Picture Oscar Nominees Mean Twice as Many Good Movies? - MovieFanFare","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"nofollow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Will Twice the Best Picture Oscar Nominees Mean Twice as Many Good Movies? - MovieFanFare","og_description":"Who says Hollywood doesn’t have a sense of humor (aside from anyone who sat through Land of the Lost or Imagine That)? In the middle of a summer movie season packed with sequels, 3-D\u00a0kiddie distractions, and SFX showcases based on...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480","og_site_name":"MovieFanFare","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Movies-Unlimited\/88679322377","article_published_time":"2009-06-25T04:04:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-14T10:37:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":283,"height":299,"url":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Oscars-e1757846162407.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gary Cahall","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gary Cahall","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480"},"author":{"name":"Gary Cahall","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480"},"headline":"Will Twice the Best Picture Oscar Nominees Mean Twice as Many Good Movies?","datePublished":"2009-06-25T04:04:22+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-14T10:37:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480"},"wordCount":509,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Oscars-e1757846162407.jpg","keywords":["Academy Awards"],"articleSection":["Staff Notes"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480","url":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480","name":"Will Twice the Best Picture Oscar Nominees Mean Twice as Many Good Movies? - MovieFanFare","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Oscars-e1757846162407.jpg","datePublished":"2009-06-25T04:04:22+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-14T10:37:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Oscars-e1757846162407.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Oscars-e1757846162407.jpg","width":283,"height":299},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=1480#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Will Twice the Best Picture Oscar Nominees Mean Twice as Many Good Movies?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/","name":"MovieFanFare","description":"Movie Articles, Movie Reviews, New DVD Releases","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480","name":"Gary Cahall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g5143b3427c8003c3e81a9804e133cb59","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gary Cahall"},"description":"Trapped in a world he never made...Movies Unlimited...since 1982, Gary's knack for mocking customers' tastes in films quickly moved him from the rental counter to the catalog department, where he still serves as co-writer\/editor, playing by his own rules in a deadly game of cat and mouse. A lifelong fan of Alfred Hitchcock, the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges, Universal and Hammer horror films, and all things dinosaur- and superhero-related, his 2001 bantering with Regis Philbin pops up now and again on GSN. Gary's not ashamed to admit he cried at the end of Titanic, after realizing he had just wasted three hours of his life.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com"],"url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com?author_name"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1480"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=1480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}