In a surprise move, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has doubled the amount of the nominations for Best Picture. Now instead of the Academy voting for five films, there will be ten nominations. The president of the Academy, Sid Ganis, had this to say of the change: “After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year.”

Problem is, I feel as though this is only half-true. Yes, the Academy is reviving an older tradition. From 1935 to 1943 there were 10 nominations. However, when you look back at the last year of the Oscars, some signs point to more than just harking back to tradition. Although there may be an immediate draw-back to this change, some benefits can be seen in the future for animated films.

In 2008, two critically acclaimed and financially successful movies, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and Pixar’s Wall•E, were both considered to be contenders for a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. Before the nominees were announced, film critic Roger Ebert mentioned that there was an “extremely strong possibility of ‘The Dark Knight’” getting a nomination, and thought that “WALL-E’ is good enough, but voters will cover it in the best animation category.” When neither of the two box office hits received the coveted nomination, Oscar viewership was a mere 32 million. Oscar telecasts including Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, were comparatively much higher.

Ebert states in his recent article that, “Nikki Finke, the widely-read blogger whose inside sources are among the best in the industry [states] ‘This is the direct result of intense lobbying by the major studios…It’s no secret that the studios have grown increasingly frustrated that their mainstream fare –the four-quadrant films, the family-oriented ‘toons, the superhero actioners, and the high-octane thrillers–have not been able to garner enough Best Picture nods in recent years while the art house offerings of the rapidly dwindling specialty divisions and indie prods dominate the process. That, in turn, has hurt the Oscar broadcast ratings as little-seen and often little-known films compete with one another while blockbuster hits are left out of the Academy Awards show.”"

The problem I see with the Academy’s decision is that it dilutes the prestige of the title of Best Picture. If the Academy’s president along with major studio lobbyists are trying to nudge Oscar voters in the direction of big name blockbusters, are they not stacking the deck against lesser-known films that may deserve the title more? Just because major studios are unhappy with the nomination results does not mean they should have the influence to change the rules so that Transformers is on the list for Best Picture.

The Academy’s statement concludes that “having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to 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.”

If Academy voters want to discourage further tinkering with the Oscars, they should continue to vote for the same under-appreciated, often brilliant movies that have received acclaim in the past few years.  However, this is probably an unattainable ideal. In the end, the most positive effect of this change might be seen in regard to animated features.

I am guessing two things will happen in conjunction with this change. First, the Best Animated Film category will be removed, generating the second benefit: animated films will be seen in the Best Picture category. With these changes, the Academy can “make up” for the Wall•E Best Picture snub. With Up receiving critical praise and a high audience turn-out, the nomination for Pixar’s film for Best Picture seems a lock. Now, the category that seemed to exist solely for Pixar will no longer be needed, and this viewer’s hopes that Pixar will soon take home the big gold will most likely be fulfilled.

Additionally, if Pixar can pull of the nomination, there may be an upward trend in animated films making the big categories. With Pixar’s films seeing gold, maybe other critically acclaimed films like Persepolis and Waltz for Bashir will receive more attention. This is a trend I fully endorse. If there can be a benefit from the Academy’s bold attempt at ratings, I certainly would not mind more ground-breaking animated films.