"The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today it is adding a twist to the Best Picture race:

The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted on Tuesday (6/14) to add a new twist to the 2011 Best Picture competition, and a new element of surprise to its annual nominations announcement. The Board voted to institute a system that will now produce anywhere between five and 10 nominees in the category. That number won’t be announced until the Best Picture nominees themselves are revealed at the January nominations announcement.

“With the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we’ve been looking not just at what happened over the past two years, but at what would have happened if we had been selecting 10 nominees for the past 10 years,” explained Academy President Tom Sherak, who noted that it was retiring Academy executive director Bruce Davis who recommended the change first to Sherak and incoming CEO Dawn Hudson and then to the governors.

During the period studied, the average percentage of first place votes received by the top vote-getting movie was 20.5. After much analysis by Academy officials, it was determined that 5% of first place votes should be the minimum in order to receive a nomination, resulting in a slate of anywhere from five to 10 movies.

“In studying the data, what stood out was that Academy members had regularly shown a strong admiration for more than five movies,” said Davis. “A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn’t feel an obligation to round out the number.”

If this system had been in effect from 2001 to 2008 (before the expansion to a slate of 10), there would have been years that yielded 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 nominees.

The final round of voting for Best Picture will continue to employ the preferential system, regardless of the number of nominees, to ensure that the winning picture has the endorsement of more than half of the voters.

Other rules changes approved by the Board include:

In the animated feature film category, the need for the Board to vote to “activate” the category each year was eliminated, though a minimum number of eligible releases – eight – is still required for a competitive category. Additionally, the short films and feature animation branch recommended, and the Board approved, refinements to the number of possible nominees in the Animated Feature category. In any year in which eight to 12 animated features are released, either two or three of them may be nominated. When 13 to 15 films are released, a maximum of four may be nominated, and when 16 or more animated features are released, a maximum of five may be nominated.

In the visual effects category, the “bakeoff” at which the nominees are determined will expand from seven to 10 contenders. The increase in the number of participants is related to a change made last year in which the number of films nominated in the visual effects category was increased from three to five.

Previously, the Board approved changes to the documentary feature and documentary short category rules that now put those categories’ eligibility periods in line with the calendar year and thus with most other awards categories. The change means that for the 84th Awards cycle only, the eligibility period is more than 12 months; it is from September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011.

Other modifications of the 84th Academy Awards rules include normal date changes and minor “housekeeping” changes.

Rules are reviewed annually by individual branch and category committees. The Awards Rules Committee then reviews all proposed changes before presenting its recommendations to the Academy’s Board of Governors for approval.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide."

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=78657

I still only want five, but any improvement is appreciated

Sounds like they're finally acknowledging that The Blind Side was a giant turd.

I'm surprised the Academy is willing to reveal which movies received under 5% of the votes - - they're usually so darn secretive.

I definitely like the change.

I dunno, I think it'll be pretty stupid to have, like, 7 nominees.

Slowly, the Oscars are turning into the Golden Globes.

So look like Winter's Bone was the main reason for the change, and it gave us the answer on which film occupied the No. 10 spot last year. A little odd considering the strength it had elsewhere.

Did I miss something in the text or where is that indicated?

It's being chatted on twitter, e.g. http://twitter.com/#!/KevinnK.

I don't think it's surprising at all that Winter's Bone was #10. It was pretty much between it and The Town for the last spot.

I don't like this change. It was nice that smaller titles, such as Winter's Bone, were able to sneak in to the Best Picture race before. I was fine with the 10 nominees. Sure they still could, but it will be harder for them to. And I don't like that we won't know how many films will be nominated.

Yep. It is surprising, though that apparently some were so discontent with its nom that they wanted a change. If that is true.

Winter's Bone never looked appealing in the slightest.

The Town was overrated.

don't like the new rule only because they got rid of preferential ballot for nominations. basically this just makes the job easier for vote counters by not having to redistribute ballots by looking at 2nd or 3rd choice and only consider first choice. so if a voter's first choice was an obscure film and second choice is winter's bone, the ballot now becomes meaningless rather than register as a vote for winter's bone.

I thought 10 was dumb and this move is also dumb. Just keep at 5 nominees which is very exclusive and although it may leave out the popular and well reviewed film every now and then it was the best way to go.

I’m going to be honest, now. I don’t follow and watch the Oscars because I think they’re a bastion of quality. I follow and watch the Oscars for the fun – I love predicting who will be nominated and will win, and when there is mystery/uncertainty around what will be nominated or rewarded big.

Thus, this decision, from my perspective, is fantastic! This will make the best picture category more unpredictable and fun. I don’t care if it’s messy and there will be different numbers in different years – it’s exciting! 10 nominees were nearly just as a predictable as having 5 nominees – now, we’ve got to guess what will really and truly make the cut, and not just what will likely round out five or ten slots. It gives us a bit more information, too, about the films that didn't make the cut with less than 10 films nominated. I like it.

Peace,
Mike

Wait a minute. Winter's Bone? Of the last two years, of all the throwaway nominees for BP, Winter's Bone was the last straw?

Yeah, but it didn't win BP, so... that's a whole different argument. Just seems funny to me. I loved it, but I know it wasn't a BP contender. But it was definitely an Oscar-type small movie with two standout performances.

I find it funny that the film this was supposed to benefit (The Dark Knight Rises, let's be honest) likely won't be nominated unless it's awesome. This year is 5-10 nominees... by 2012, they'll probably downgrade it to 5 again after more outrage.

I just wanted to express how funny it is they're making a fuss over a good movie that got nominated, when they can't even award the best movie of the year as the best movie of the year.

Maybe some people dislike the prospect of having low-budget films made outside of the Hollywood system infiltrating their precious Academy Awards, and believe that ten films grants too much prestige to folks who dare to work outside of the system on even a nominal level.

Or maybe they just really didn't like Winter's Bone for aesthetic reasons I personally can't fathom.

It's clearly becoming more and more of a clusterfuck, and the Academy seems really unsure about all of this, but I really like the idea that the films which receive great enough support are in, and those that don't aren't. Ideally this could allow for great pieces that would normally miss with 5 (TS3, A Serious Man) to slip in and the trash that got lucky with 10 (Blind Side, Kids are All right) to be excluded. But it is the AMPAs so all that won't happen.