The 82nd Academy Awards will feature ten nominees for the top prize of Best Picture, rather than five, it was announced earlier today by Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.This change should finally open the way for Pixar's critically-acclaimed animated gems, as well as other commercially successful films, to be recognized in the awards' most prestigious category. It goes without saying that WALL-E would have gotten a nod last year had there been ten openings. Cinematical is already predicting that "Up is a definite contender".
Said Ganis: "Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going allow Academy 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".
The practice of having more than five Best Picture nominees is actually not new for the Academy. As noted in the news release, there were ten nominees in the category for nearly a decade in the Oscars' 'early years'. 1934 and 1935 even saw twelve nominees.
The 82nd Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010. Nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2.
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25 comments:
The question is, what else besides Up will be nominated for Best Picture and/or Best Animated Picture?
This is wonderful news. Not only will this open the door for animated films and other movies that have oft been under-represented at the Oscars, it should also help to expand the telecast audience. More films in contention mean more people will have a stake in the outcome. The Oscars need to recognize the quality of some popular films and not just art house movies (though I do love those too) if they're going to stay relevant.
Disappointing they couldn't have done this last year for WALL-E. It certainly deserved that nomination, in my opinion moreso than any of the other films nominated. :/ But good news for Up and all the Pixar films to follow! :D Beauty and the Beast isn't going to hold its record much longer.
Yeah, now watch Pixar (or animation in general) STILL get the shaft even after uping the nomination count.
Here's hoping though.
Why couldn't they have done this for WALL-E?
I didn't like Up as much as WALL-E, but I still think if it doesn't get nominated, then the Oscars need a brain transplant.
Here's what I'm expecting the nominees will probably be.
1. Up
2. Star Trek
3. Night at the Museum 2
4. Taken
5. He's Just Not That Into You
6. Angels and Demons
7. Terminator: Salvation
8. Transformers 2
9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
10. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
What do you guys think?
And Jordan, as for it's competitors for Best Animated Feature, they almost always do the best Dreamworks movie and either another great animated film or the Disney animated film. So, like that, Monsters vs. Aliens AND either (ugh) Ice Age 3 or The Princess and the Frog.
PixarFanatic, are you being sarcastic? most of the movies on your list were craptastic, murdered in reviews. X-men especially, but also including Terminator and Transformers 2. (even if their still enjoyable action movies)
you cant just take all biggest summer movies and nominate them, they have to actually be good first.
I'm thinking it'll mostly be independent stuff that not many have heard of/seen.
Kyle:
First of all, both 'Taken' and 'He's Just Not That Into You' were both Feburary films, not summer films. Second, I was coming here to edit a couple choices (Terminator and X-Men) to Avatar, and I can't think of a tenth choice still.
Third, you think it'll be stuff that most of us don't know. OK, I admit that Slumdog Millionare won it last time, and it was not very well-known, but The Return of The King won Best Picture in 2003, and unless I'm mistaken, the first Narnia movie was nominated in 2006 (but it lost. Tyranny.)
Up, Star Trek, and Angels and Demons were probably my first choices. I picked Angels and Demons because it's the highest grossing film so far worldwide, leading with 460 M, thanks to big money in foreign departments.
He's Just Not That Into You, I thought, was a good choice as well...
Up and Star Trek will most defnitely get nominated. They are the best movies of the year that I have seen, and they have been taken the box office as well domestically like rattlesnakes that have had a really good food day. Up already has 231 M, but though its big run probably is going to end soon. I just found out that Transformers 2 got SIXTY MILLION estimated today. I was going to wait until this weekend to see it, but considering its big box office run, and I'm a Transformers fan, guess I'll be seeing it tomorrow!
We can only hope that The Proposal and Year One don't boot Up down to fourth. I don't know yet about that.
PixarFanatic, concerning Best Animated Film, I'm sure that Up will win, but don't forget about Coraline. I've heard that it was a very good film, so I'm pretty sure it will be up there. Also, isn't Hayao Miyazaki coming out with a new film? If he is, I'm pretty sure that's going to get nominated as well. So, considering the fact that there are almost always only three BAF nominees, I don't think Ice Age or Princess and the Frog will make an appearance. Well, maybe the latter. And unfortunately, it would just seem odd if Monsters vs Aliens didn't appear, even though it looked like an awful film.
Just now running back with Wednesday news--Transformers 2 got 60.4 M today, and Up still got a smashing 2.6 M today, but that's lower then Tuesday or Monday. And it's still at #4.
It'll probably be at #5 by the time Ice Age 3 makes its appearance, though I don't know if it'll be able to beat Transformers 2 at this rate. If it continues with this big run, it could beat The Dark Knight's opening weekend record of 158 M, which I hope not, The Dark Knight being my all-time fave movie.
Beauty and the beast have the record for being the first nominated for best movie, it only will be taken by winning it. Wall E should had.
PixarFanatic:
Narnia was never nominated for best pic. It won best makeup and was nominated for sound mixing and visual effects. Nothing big. And not to be a downer or anything, but I have to agree with Kyle, most of the movies on your list don't even have a hope of being nominated.
Graemae Allen:
I did see Coraline, and though I thought its plot was great, I found it frustrating to have to give it a mixed review.
Monsters vs Aliens was actually better then some Dreamworks films, there's some great humor in it. Here's some quotes:
President: Boys, set the terror level at code brown, because I need to change my pants.
(people cringe)
And then that B.O.B is so funny!
BOB: (to Susan) What do you people scream when you come, like, LOOK OUT! HERE COMES...
Susan: Susan.
BOB: (spookily) SUUUSSSAAAN!!!! Oh, that is scary! I just scared myself!
I LMAO at PixarFanatic posts. NONE of those you've listed, except Up and Avatar (if that film can actually make it this year) has the chance to be nominated. NONE.
Star Trek is good but fun and harmless good, not Oscar good. The rest are at best mediocre and some are plain bad.
However many nominees there are, Oscar is still snobby and sniffy. Most Oscar contenders will show themselves in November, The Road, Nine, The Lovely Bones, A Serious Man, Shutter Island, Where the Wild Things Are, Human Factor, An Education... and what about Public Enemies, Taking Woodstock and Inglourious Basterds? And films we haven't known yet about? And you think He's Just Not That Into You has a chance? Or Angels and Demons should be nominated because it makes the most money? LMAO.
Even Up is not a lock, the bias with animation is still there and it's not going anywhere soon 5, 10 or 15. WALL-E was THE best last year according to several sources like MCN and some Top 10 compilations, yet it wasn't there.
@Pixarfanatic:
It's Oscar, not The Best at the Box Office. Even with some crowd-pleasers sneaking in, they won't stand a chance. Even Star Trek and HP. They're not in the same league as Pixar films or the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Since when a Trek or a HP become Oscar material?
And no, Narnia wasn't nominated.
Hey Mike you should create a twitter account for this blog. I would follow :)
OK, maybe I was wrong about everything else, but seriously! Star Trek, Avatar, and Up WILL make it. And as for some of the others... oh boy, I'm getting sleepy.
Where The Wild Things Are is a good suggestion, but I think it's animated. If they're going to nominate Up AND Where the Wild Things Are, they might as well nominate Monsters vs. Aliens, 9 (ugh), Battle for Terra, blah blah blah.
Public Enemies, maybe, stands a chance, but I don't see anything else. There were bigger movies LAST year that stood a chance.
As for Best Animated Feature, they have three nominations for those each year. The ones to be nominated will be, of course, Up, and Monsters vs. Aliens, and the third is a bit of a mix-up... probably Where the Wild Things Are.
I don't think Where the Wild Things Are is all animated. It classifies as a live-action film.
Actually, it's live-action. See here: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/
wherethewildthingsare/
Um, PixarFanatic, not to be rude, but you have no idea what you're talking about. There is no chance that any movie you mentioned other than Up has any chance in getting nominated. I suppose Where the Wild Things Are, which is live action, has a chance, but I'll have to see the movie before I judge.
And as for 9, which I am eagerly anticipating, may have a shot, depending on how good it is. It surely won't be as good as the short it's based on, but I am still hopeful. I don't think Monsters Vs. Aliens has a good chance for the animated film category because I thought it was terrible. I think films like Princess and the Frog, Ponyo, and 9 have better chances.
Mike, you wanna report on this article next?
http://www.cinematical.com/2009/06/28/pixar-promises-a-mature-and-classy-toy-story-3/
You just did!
Pixar Blog commentators:
I have decided to stop following the Oscars as much as I used to. They just can't make the right choices. They need to make better choices--like Up, Star Trek, Angels and Demons, Night at the Museum 2, Taken...
I now got my mind set on the Annie's, the Golden Globes, and the Saturn's, of which WALL-E just won Best Animated Feature.
They created the Best Animated Film category after Beauty and the Beast was nominated to make sure "inferior" films of its kind would never be nominated for Best Picture.
People, especially in the United States, still view animation as something for children, and something that can't match "real film."
It's a shame this bias exists, because all film is fake; the script, the characters, the sets, the sound, etc. It's just a medium inside another medium. King Kong is probably 98% animation and craftsmanship besides the live actors.
People in the film business have always whined about limitations, and how some new digital tool or technique makes something possible. In animation, it's always been possible.
Animation is wondrous, and it seems to be something that children, adults who are children at heart, and those that love magic grasp onto.
But for all the cynicism in my post, I know that one day, Pixar will break that glass ceiling. They are chipping away at ignorance, one film at a time.
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