Pixar Oscar Hopes Expand with Best Picture Category

Fans of Up now have lifted hopes for the film’s chances at an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.  

The Motion Picture Academy has decided to return to including ten nominees in the most coveted category at the 82nd annual ceremony in 2010 for the first time since 1943.  "There were 10 best pic noms for most of the Academy Awards’ first decade.  In 1935 there was a bumper crop of 12 nominees."

The decision comes into response to controversy that many deserving films are shut out from even competing in the category like high grossing action flicks and of course animated films which have their own Best Animated Feature category.  Only one animated film, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in 1992, has ever been nominated for Best Picture, and that was nearly a decade prior to the birth of the animation category.

The recent critical and box office success of animated films, particularly from Pixar, as well as major action films like last year’s The Dark Knight have many in the industry believing these films can compete in the category. The Academy hopes the change will make that possible. The new rule should have a particularly significant impact this year as no early front runners have emerged on scene as awards season approaches.

Note: Nominees for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be announced on February 2nd, 2010. Watch the ceremony live from Hollywood on March 7th, 2010!

Your thoughts?

(via Variety. Thanks  to Paul for the heads Up!)