Just What Oscars Need: More Nominees

Motion Picture Academy chief Sid Ganis announced that the 2010 Oscars will double the number of Best Picture nominees, from five to 10. (By Damian Dovarganes -- Associated Press)

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By Lisa de Moraes

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Motion Picture Academy has boosted the number of Best Picture nominees from five to 10 in hopes that it will attract more viewers to its Oscarcast on ABC.

Now fans of 10 flicks -- instead of just fans of five flicks -- will tune in to see whether their favorite film of the year cops The Big One.

Take that, Golden Globes!

It's not really a new concept. Back in the 1930s and '40s, the Best Picture derby was positively polluted with nominees. That includes nine years in which there were 10 nominees -- even a couple of years that had a dozen contenders.

For reasons not made clear in yesterday's announcement, the brain trust at the film academy ended this practice after the 1943 Oscar ceremony -- the year "Casablanca" won the top award.

"Casablanca" (which, in case you just came out from under a flat rock, is a great WWII flick that starred Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and so on) competed that year in a field that included:

"For Whom the Bell Tolls"

"Heaven Can Wait"

"The Human Comedy"

"In Which We Serve"

"Madame Curie"

"The More the Merrier"

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