84th Academy Awards

[Diesel]

Beverly Hills, CA — The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted on Tuesday (6/14) to add a new twist to the 2011 Best Picture competition, and a new element of surprise to its annual nominations announcement. The Board voted to institute a system that will now produce anywhere between five and 10 nominees in the category. That number won’t be announced until the Best Picture nominees themselves are revealed at the January nominations announcement.

“With the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we’ve been looking not just at what happened over the past two years, but at what would have happened if we had been selecting 10 nominees for the past 10 years,” explained Academy President Tom Sherak, who noted that it was retiring Academy executive director Bruce Davis who recommended the change first to Sherak and incoming CEO Dawn Hudson and then to the governors.

During the period studied, the average percentage of first place votes received by the top vote-getting movie was 20.5. After much analysis by Academy officials, it was determined that 5% of first place votes should be the minimum in order to receive a nomination, resulting in a slate of anywhere from five to 10 movies.

“In studying the data, what stood out was that Academy members had regularly shown a strong admiration for more than five movies,” said Davis. “A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn’t feel an obligation to round out the number.”

If this system had been in effect from 2001 to 2008 (before the expansion to a slate of 10), there would have been years that yielded 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 nominees.

The final round of voting for Best Picture will continue to employ the preferential system, regardless of the number of nominees, to ensure that the winning picture has the endorsement of more than half of the voters.

Other rules changes approved by the Board include:

In the animated feature film category, the need for the Board to vote to “activate” the category each year was eliminated, though a minimum number of eligible releases – eight – is still required for a competitive category. Additionally, the short films and feature animation branch recommended, and the Board approved refinements to the number of possible nominees in the Animated Feature category. In any year in which eight to 12 animated features are released, either two or three of them may be nominated. When 13 to 15 films are released, a maximum of four may be nominated, and when 16 or more animated features are released, a maximum of five may be nominated.

In the visual effects category, the “bakeoff” at which the nominees are determined will expand from seven to 10 contenders. The increase in the number of participants is related to a change made last year in which the number of films nominated in the visual effects category was increased from three to five.

Previously, the Board approved changes to the documentary feature and documentary short category rules that now put those categories’ eligibility periods in line with the calendar year and thus with most other awards categories. The change means that for the 84th Awards cycle only, the eligibility period is more than 12 months; it is from September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011.

Other modifications of the 84th Academy Awards rules include normal date changes and minor “housekeeping” changes.

Rules are reviewed annually by individual branch and category committees. The Awards Rules Committee then reviews all proposed changes before presenting its recommendations to the Academy’s Board of Governors for approval.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.



Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

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[EricJ]

Translation: "Okay, there might not be ten Pictures this year....Uh, but y'know, doesn't mean there couldn't be!"
Likely due to nobody expecting this year's Pixar to be nominated.

We can expect the nominations officially going back to five next year. Wouldn't look good if they announced it all at once.

[kernel_thai]

Im of two minds on this whole deal. Do we need ten? No. In a normal year there's only two or three that really have a chance. Is it nice to have open slots for an animated film or a genre film or to honor a big box office film? Yeah its nice. I believe it's been going a little art house in recent years leading to viewers not tuning in to see pictures theyve never heard of vie for the title. The thing that bothers me most is the cheapening of the nomination. The more films u name the less an accomplishment it is to be one of them. So I guess I'm all right with a variable number of nominees.

[Moviefan2k4]

I don't watch the Oscars anymore, mostly because so many of the most successful movies are ignored, in favor of smaller "melodramatic" efforts.

[Sylentwolf]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

I don't watch the Oscars anymore, mostly because so many of the most successful movies are ignored, in favor of smaller "melodramatic" efforts.

I haven't followed or watched an entire show since Whoopi Goldberg's host from 1999 (Shakespeare In Love, Saving Private Ryan, etc), 1998 was good year for movies and so was that decade.

HOST & BEST PICTURE of THE 90's

1991 - Billy Crystal - Dances With Wolves
1992 - Billy Crystal - Silence of the Lambs
1993 - Billy Crystal - Unforgiven
1994 - Whoopi Goldberg - Schindler's List
1995 - David Letterman - Forrest Gump
1996 - Whoopi Goldberg - Braveheart
1997 - Billy Crystal - The English Patient
1998 - Billy Crystal - Titanic
1999 - Whoopi Goldberg - Shakespeare In Love - LAST SOLID VIEWING
2000 - Billy Crystal - American Beauty - WATCHED BITS & PIECES

( Remember : Release Year of Best Picture was from the Year Before )

My favorite year was Billy Crystal's hosting in 1998
(Armageddon, As Good As It Gets, The Big Lebowski, Good Will Hunting, Jackie Brown,
Rounders, There's Something About Mary, Titanic, The X-Files, etc)

HOST & BEST PICTURE of THE 2000's

2001 - Steve Martin - Gladiator - WATCHED BITS & PIECES
2002 - Whoopi Goldberg - A Beautiful Mind - WATCHED BITS & PIECES
2003 - Steve Martin - Chicago - DIDN'T WATCH
2004 - Billy Crystal - Lord of the Rings : Return of the King - WATCHED BITS & PIECES
2005 - Chris Rock - Million Dollor Baby - WATCHED BITS & PIECES
2006 - Jon Stewart - Crash - WATCHED BITS & PIECES
2007 - Ellen DeGeneres - The Departed - WATCHED BITS & PIECES
2008 - Jon Stewart - No Country for Old Men - WATCHED BITS & PIECES
2009 - Hugh Jackman - Slumdog Millionaire - WATCHED BITS & PIECES
2010 - Steve Martin & Alec Baldwin - The Hurt Locker - DIDN'T WATCH
2011 - James Franco & Anne Hathaway - The King's Speech - DIDN'T WATCH

Unless We Have A Solid Year In Movies, Thanks But No Thanks Oscar, I'll Sit-Out This Year.

[kernel_thai]

I agree it no longer needs a host. The show was built on the variety show concept: production numbers, skit comedy and the host doing a five minute monologue. How long has it been since tv featured a successful variety show? Twenty years? The purpose of the show isnt to entertain the audience, its too hand out awards. There is enough musical entertainment provided by performing the nominees in the Best song category. The time wasted on the skits and monologue could be filled with video of the actual nominees. Instead of the loathsome practice of having last year's best actor/actress winner pretending they know this years nominees they need to actual show the performances.

They also need to reduce the length of the broadcast. While everyone certainly deserves their moment in the sun, the truth is the audience really only cares about ten categories tops. Making people sit thru three hours of trivia answers before they see anything they care about is bad tv. Most of the smaller awards should be given out before the broadcast starts. Let them have their moment and acceptance speech in front of their peers. Then, as part of the broadcast, bring the winners on the stage in groups so tv audiences can see them and hear what they won. Use the two hour broadcast to focus on the main categories and special awards. Add well produced video montages highlighting the movies and performances of the past year. I think ud find viewers would be more interested in this type of show.

As to who wins, it decided by about 6000 insiders and will rarely reflect the popular view. Considering how small the group is we r lucky they hit as close to the mark as they usually do.

[Rblu-Dblu]

Like the previous poster stated it sounds like they're trying to boost ratings by including some of the box office success films. I'm sure more teenagers will tune in if Green Lantern is up for best picture.

[EricJ]

The ten nominations started for two reasons:
1) They FINALLY figured out the reasons that "the Oscar ceremony wasn't getting TV ratings" was that now that they'd pushed up the schedule, they couldn't think of any movies, and the nominees had become lame, obscure retreads of the Golden Globe and Critics Circle lists, and a few buzzy-rumor titles, sight-unseen.
They opened it up to ten, announcing that there'd "be more room" for Harry Potter VI and Star Trek (and you-know-who), still couldn't think of nine other movies in the short time, and got....TEN lame, obscure arthouse-indie retreads of the Golden Globe and Critics Circle and sight-unseen buzzy-rumor titles.
Guess there was one more problem they'd have to fix first.

2) They wanted Wall-E for Best Picture, and it didn't make the five.
They wanted Up for Best Picture, and made enough slots to fit, and would have gotten it, except for a surprise critic rally for the Iraq-boomboom movie.
They WANTED!!!! Toy Story 3 for Best Picture, and left the slots open because they'd forgotten why they'd opened them in the first place, but lost to a surprise upset by the When Microphones Were Big movie.
Sigh. They're not giving up yet, they just don't expect Cars 2 to have any adult-child huggy moments to validate, so why keep up the pretense?

There's nothing wrong with admitting to making a mistake. It's part of growing up. But first, one has to be mature enough to face it.

[Foggy]

So, I guess they are admitting, that they were letting too much crap in. So now they decided to loose all exclusive of Best Picture nominations by saying "Everything that is an 'Oscar' film can get in, but these random Sci-Fi films that are really good but not really our cup of tea can stay out if we want" I call Bullshit!!!

With 5 films nominations, the films that got nominated would feel more prestigious
With 10, more diversity was allowed it, but they sometimes struggle to fill spaces, so one or two "popular" films (like The Blind Side) got in, yet some films that need recognition got just that, and where outside the Academy's comfort zone.
Now they are just like, we're making out own rules here, we just want what we want!!!

[Batman1980]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foreign Language Executive Committee has vetted the contenders, eliminated a few (notably Joshua Marston's nixed Albanian entry The Forgiveness of Blood, a pretty good movie), and announced the contenders for the foreign Oscar. One promising film is Finland's upbeat, charming Le Havre (picture above) by Aki Kaurismäki. Press release below:

63 COUNTRIES VIE FOR 2011 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OSCAR®

Beverly Hills, CA – Sixty-three countries, including first-time entrant New Zealand, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 84th Academy Awards®.

The 2011 submissions are:
Albania, "Amnesty," Bujar Alimani, director;
Argentina, "Aballay," Fernando Spiner, director;
Austria, "Breathing," Karl Markovics, director;
Belgium, "Bullhead," Michael R. Roskam, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina,"Belvedere," Ahmed Imamovic, director;
Brazil, "Elite Squad: The Enemy Within," José Padilha, director;
Bulgaria, "Tilt," Viktor Chouchkov, Jr., director;
Canada, "Monsieur Lazhar," Philippe Falardeau, director;
Chile, "Violeta Went to Heaven," Andrés Wood, director;
China, "The Flowers of War," Zhang Yimou, director;
Colombia, "The Colors of the Mountain," Carlos César Arbeláez, director;
Croatia, "72 Days," Danilo Serbedzija, director;
Cuba, "Havanastation," Ian Padrón, director;
Czech Republic,"Alois Nebel," Tomás Lunák, director;
Denmark, "Superclásico," Ole Christian Madsen, director;
Dominican Republic,"Love Child," Leticia Tonos, director;
Egypt, "Lust," Khaled el Hagar, director;
Estonia, "Letters to Angel," Sulev Keedus, director;
Finland, "Le Havre," Aki Kaurismäki, director;
France, "Declaration of War," Valérie Donzelli, director;
Georgia, "Chantrapas," Otar Iosseliani, director;
Germany, "Pina," Wim Wenders, director;
Greece, "Attenberg," Athina Rachel Tsangari, director;
Hong Kong,"A Simple Life," Ann Hui, director;
Hungary, "The Turin Horse," Béela Tarr, director;
Iceland, "Volcano," Rúnar Rúnarsson, director;
India, "Abu, Son of Adam," Salim Ahamed, director;
Indonesia, "Under the Protection of Ka'Bah," Hanny R. Saputra, director;
Iran, "A Separation," Asghar Farhadi, director;
Ireland, "As If I Am Not There," Juanita Wilson, director;
Israel, "Footnote," Joseph Cedar, director;
Italy, "Terraferma," Emanuele Crialese, director;
Japan, "Postcard," Kaneto Shindo, director;
Kazakhstan, "Returning to the ‘A,’" Egor Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky, director;
Lebanon, "Where Do We Go Now?" Nadine Labaki, director;
Lithuania, "Back to Your Arms," Kristijonas Vildziunas, director;
Macedonia, "Punk Is Not Dead," Vladimir Blazevski, director;
Mexico, "Miss Bala," Gerardo Naranjo, director;
Morocco, "Omar Killed Me," Roschdy Zem, director;
Netherlands, "Sonny Boy," Maria Peters, director;
New Zealand,"The Orator," Tusi Tamasese, director;
Norway, "Happy, Happy," Anne Sewitsky, director;
Peru, "October," Diego Vega and Daniel Vega, directors;
Philippines, "The Woman in the Septic Tank," Marlon N. Rivera, director;
Poland, "In Darkness," Agnieszka Holland, director;
Portugal, "José and Pilar," Miguel Gonçalves Mendes, director;
Romania, "Morgen," Marian Crisan, director;
Russia, "Burnt by the Sun 2: The Citadel," Nikita Mikhalkov, director;
Serbia, "Montevideo: Taste of a Dream," Dragan Bjelogrlić, director;
Singapore, "Tatsumi," Eric Khoo, director;
Slovak Republic,"Gypsy," Martin Sulík, director;
South Africa,"Beauty," Oliver Hermanus, director;
South Korea,"The Front Line," Jang Hun, director;
Spain, "Black Bread," Agusti Villaronga, director;
Sweden, "Beyond," Pernilla August, director;
Switzerland, "Summer Games," Rolando Colla, director;
Taiwan, "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale," Wei Te-sheng, director;
Thailand, "Kon Khon," Sarunyu Wongkrachang, director;
Turkey, "Once upon a Time in Anatolia," Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director;
United Kingdom,"Patagonia," Marc Evans, director;
Uruguay, "The Silent House," Gustavo Hernández, director;
Venezuela, "Rumble of the Stones," Alejandro Bellame Palacios, director;
Vietnam, "The Prince and the Pagoda Boy," Luu Trong Ninh, director.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Source - http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rac...ar-list-248326

[EricJ]

Uh, think you mean "Contenders"?
Technically, anything can be a "potential winner" before the nominations are even compiled...

And as for why the UK has a "Foreign language" film (don't say it... ), "Patagonia" is largely in Welsh.
Remember, it's "Foreign language", not necessarily "Foreign country".

[newginafets]

I wish Indonesia good luck

[nefilim]

Finland : "Le Havre" by Aki Kaurismäki

[rkolinski]

The Russian "Burnt by the Sun 2: The Citadel" looks interesting (also this film is only partially completed because it is a multi-part film - this being Part 2). Has anyone seen Part 1 titled "Exodus?"

Burnt by the Sun: Citadel. Part 3 - YouTube