Best picture Oscar list gets longer

Photo courtesy of ScifiWire.com. Avatar is nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture.

Editorial
Last June, the Motion Picture Academy decided to add five more movies to the Best Picture category, bringing the number of Best Picture nominations up to ten.

This is seen as a bit of stunning move since there have been five nominations since the 1944 Academy Awards. It is notable, however, that there used to be anywhere between 8 and 12 nominees during the 30′s and early 40′s.

It is also interesting to wonder about what else would be been nominated in the time between 1944 and 2009 if there had been five more nominations. There could have been dozens more nominees, and while those five extra films might not have won, it is always a distinction to be nominated for an Academy Award.

The nominees this year are Avatar, District 9, The Blind Side, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire, Up, A Serious Man, and Up in the Air.

The decision does also seem to broaden the types of films that get nominations, with Up being the second animated film to be nominated for Best Picture to date (the first being Beauty and the Beast). The film Precious also marks the first time in which an African-American director has been nominated for a Best Picture category.

Whatever the reason the Motion Picture Academy has for, it appears to be a good one since it gives more movies the chance to be recognized for excellence in filmmaking.

Raymond Mendoza
Managing Editor