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June 25, 2009

Bremer: 10 too many for top Oscar consideration

Could “Star Trek” be a best picture contender? Is “Up” on its way to snagging the ultimate Oscar?

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would like you to think so.

The academy’s board of governors announced Wednesday that it will double the field for Hollywood’s biggest prize, nominating 10 films for best picture.

Sid Ganis, president of the academy, said the board felt there were more than five films last year that deserved best picture consideration, including fan and critic favorite “The Dark Knight” and Pixar’s animated feature “WALL-E.”

The move is intended to open the competition up to box-office successes, which rarely are showered with the Oscar attention “academy” movies (i.e. dramas and limited-release indies) receive. The change is effective next year for the 82nd Oscar show on March 7.

Let’s not kid ourselves, folks.

This has nothing to do with making sure films outside the academy’s normal purview get equal consideration.

This is not a victory for populist films.

This is a ill-disguised ploy to improve ratings.

Ganis admits expanding the field of nominees could inflate the number of Oscar viewers.

“It’s going to give the public the possibility of being more interested in the show this year, just because it might very well include more populist movies,” Ganis told The Associated Press. “And because it’s 10, not five, there will be a larger group of people who will be interested.”

And the academy is in need of that boost. Ratings for the Oscars have declined during the last decade. Its biggest audience, 55.2 million viewers, was for blockbuster “Titanic” in 1997. However, last year’s acclaimed winner “Slumdog Millionaire” drew just 36.3 million viewers to the program.

And did you catch the “might very well include more populist movies” in Ganis’ statement?

Just because the number of nominees has been expanded doesn’t mean films like “Star Trek” or “The Dark Knight” are shoe-ins to get a nod.

The Academy could “very well” stick to what they’ve always done and chose only “academy” films.

And as for actually winning the most coveted golden statuette?

The odds of a movie like “Dark Knight, “Star Trek” or “Iron Man” (another supposed looked-over contender last year) winning best picture are about the same as Uwe Boll making a watchable film.

This does not erase the grave injustice done to “The Dark Knight” last year.

It doesn’t, as the academy portends, ensure popular films aren’t overlooked.

It instead declares a popular film could never have been a member of the elite top five.

And that’s more insulting than snubbing the Caped Crusader and chosing Shakespeare over Private Ryan.



Contact Heather Bremer: 640-4867, heather.bremer@heraldbulletin.com.

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