Best Picture Might Return to Five Nominees

[Blankments]

 In 2009, the Academy moved away from its long-term rule of having five nominees (though it had chosen 10 in its earlier years), following the omission of The Dark Knight from the previous year’s lineup. That film’s exclusion from the best-picture nominees led many to argue in favor of throwing a bigger net that would lift ratings and also satisfy popular audiences, hungry for the Academy to acknowledge films with a wider appeal.

 

After going up to 10 nominees, the Academy shifted direction two years later, this time mandating anything from five to 10. Eight films were nominated this year, and nine each of the three previous years.

 

But rather than add blockbusters to the mix, Academy voters have simply opted for more art-house films. All of this year’s nominees, with the exception of Sniper, were specialty releases, including the eventual winner, Birdman, from Fox Searchlight Pictures.

 

An analysis of the total box office of the nominees shows a marked slide over the past six years, indicating the extent to which the current strategy has failed to bring popular films into play. In 2010, the first year that the number of best picture nominees expanded to ten, those films, which included Avatar, brought in a total of $4.7 billion worldwide; this year, their box office tally just prior to the Oscars was a mere $999.5 million, according to Rentrak. Over the six years, the cumulative grosses of the best picture nominees have seen a steady slide as voters increasingly have favored art house films.

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-academy-weighing-return-five-779066

 

Good riddance.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Blankments

[Empire]

I say keep it as is.

[MrPink]

So I guess Nolan's only best pic nod will be Inception.

[Kalo]

that is stupid. there are way too many movies released to cut it to 5. they should keep to 10 every year imo.

[AniNate]

I guess it's good that they waited until after I stopped caring about the Oscars to have this debate.

[Spidey Freak]

Fucking stupid. The NUMBER ONE complaint was that the ceremony recognizes too few movies. So reducing the number of BP nominees is obviously the solution. 

[Kvikk Lunsj]

I like the five nominees. 

[grim22]

The move to up to 10 nominees was smart. Then they made it such that a picture must get at least 5% of #1 votes to be nominated - which was stupid. Take that rule out, and you will see a good mix of blockbusters as well as arthouse specialty releases get nominated.

 

Look at the nominee list that the rule did not exist for i.e. 2009 and 2010, it is a really good mix. 2011 onwards, when the rule changed to 5%, the nominees started looking more and more niche every year. The problem with blockbusters is that the entertaining ones will probably land on a lot of lists, maybe even enough to make the final list of nominees, but they most likely won't get so many #1 slots.

[Empire]

Yeah, they need to go back to how it was in 09/10 really.

[terrestrial]

I hink the 'at least .... of #1' rule is really hurting the Oscars.

They should probably exclude voters that haven't even seen all the titles they are voting over per category or at all (but I am guessing a lot of them then will start lying about that)

 

Really am wondering about the nomination process - as in the reality of how ~ influence happens, get some film makers to do a docu about that, including way better control & training on how to avoid getting manipulated.

 

About the number... I don't know if I even care about it for now, with especially Oscar BP looking to me mostly to be a best indie drama award = way too specialised.

 

Same counts for visual related awards (effects, sets, make-up,...)... way too often I think they haven't even seen the most movies I think the artists for that did the most creative work or give it to movies they think they 'have to' acknowledge for varying reasons.

[CoolioD1]

good. it was a cynical ratings ploy to begin with and I'm glad it kinda blew up in their face. less films will get recognised but it's better that way.

[filmlover]

I'm actually kind of in favor of this. One of the most fun aspects of nomination morning was seeing what movies get snubbed. There haven't really been many surprise picks since the category expanded, one or two movies aside.

The ceremony itself needs much more work than this does, though.

 

And I really think hoping that they will find a way to get more commercially-successful (or more "blockbuster-y") films to get nominated is nothing more than a pipe dream. The fact a film that is anti-superhero-movie just won Best Picture says that this expansion didn't pan out the way they originally thought it would.

[CoolioD1]

just so you know, since they expanded best picture LESS films are getting nominated in the major categories. last year it was only 12 films in all eight of the major cats which is like the lowest ever or something. they get lazy and only look at the picture contenders. shrinking it is a good thing.

[AniNate]

 

I'm actually kind of in favor of this. One of the most fun aspects of nomination morning was seeing what movies get snubbed. There haven't really been many surprise picks since the category expanded, one or two movies aside.

 

I will just say that I do not enjoy seeing films get snubbed. I don't find any schadenfreude out of deserving films getting the shaft in favor of lesser ones that continue to promote the Academy's formulaic biopic status quo.

 

The year there are no surprises (or, more accurately, only positive surprises) is the year the Oscars will have finally succeeded.

Edited March 4, 2015 by tribefan695

[CoolioD1]

 

The year there are no surprises (or, more accurately, only positive surprises) is the year the Oscars will have finally succeeded.

meh. I don't take the oscars especially seriously as an organisation that recognises the best in film, but I do love the game of it all with the predictions and maybe being surprised by the nominations (because the winners are never surprising...). so I gotta disagree with your take here.

[filmlover]

Yeah, the predictions part is what makes the whole thing so much fun. Seeing what doesn't make it into Best Picture hasn't been as entertaining as seeing who misses in the acting categories since the expansion.

[AniNate]

I do agree that making predictions is fun, but I wish it could just be about what films/actors/directors, etc. you predict will be the best of the year, without having to bring campaign politics and genre handicaps into it. Probably a not insignificant reason it's so hard for me to get into college sports compared with pros.

Edited March 4, 2015 by tribefan695

[Kalo]

Let me asked this, if there were 10 BP nominees this year, what would have been the other two? would they have in fact been blockbusters anyways? Maybe Dawn of the Planet of the Apes or X-Men: DOFP, would have been nominated, maybe not. Lego movie was great and it didn't even make the BAP category. 

 

I feel like maybe the entire academy needs to be reconfigured. and maybe replace some of those 100 year voters with a stick up their butts.

 

They also are incredibly biased toward historical films, especially dealing with civil rights, and important historical events, as well as anything nostalgic of the film industry themselves. in fact every PB this decade has been in either of those two categories, 2010: The King's Speech, 2011, The Artist, 2012, Argo, 2013, 12 Years a Slave, 2014 Birdman. not that they aren't necessarily good films, but the film should be judged on it's own merits, not on the contend on which it was based or inspired by. 

[AniNate]

It's hard to argue with who they actually chose for Best Picture these past few years. All very deserving films. It's filling out the nominees they seem to be stuck in the past with.

[filmlover]

You can't please everyone. There will always be those that will complain "why don't they nominate more blockbusters" and those that will argue that a smaller movie like Whiplash needs the exposure much more than, say, Guardians of the Galaxy. And creating a Best Blockbuster category would cause them to come under even more scrutiny for trying to be like the MTV Movie Awards in a ploy more obviously desperate for ratings than expanding the Best Picture field.

 

The expansion only came to be because there was widespread anger over The Dark Knight getting snubbed. And let's be honest: movies like those are extremely rare beasts.

Edited March 4, 2015 by filmlover