Oscars changes its rules.

[Spirit_of_Adventure]

The Academy Awards have announced today changes in some of its rules. This of course has a lot to do with Pixar/animated films chances of getting nominated. Pay special attention to the changing number of nominees in Best Picture and Best Animated Picture.

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.

[bryanbmp]

that sucks, at least Pixar films are always the highest rated movies of the year at the Rotten Tomatoes score, that also proves how critics and audiences love these films

[The_Chicken_Man]

I was hoping for the “a film can’t be nominated for both Best Animated Feature and Best Picture when only IT is nominated for Best Picture” rule because if only ONE animated film is good enough to be nominated for Best Picture, then it’s better than the other animated films, and the Best Animated Feature category is pointless.

[bryanbmp]

For the past years the animated films (specially the ones from pixar) have proven to be even better than some live action films

[Pixarfan91]

Well this sucks. Cars 2 is gonna have a less chance to win next year. I still think they can pull it off.

[Spirit_of_Adventure]

Even without this rule, it was highly unlikely that Cars 2 was nominated.

[Lover_of_Fiction]

@Spirit of Adventure

Even without this rule, it was highly unlikely that Cars 2 was nominated.

I agree on this would have been, but I do want to say that Brave would have likely been nominated for the 85th Academy Awards and this dampens its chances. It has to be exceptional for that to happen.

Also, I despise the idea of the elimination of the Best Animated Film category for any reason, other than fewer than eight films being released to activate the category in a given year. Since animated films are discriminated against for winning the Best Picture Oscar, even if they are nominated, they HAVE to have their own category.

[Spirit_of_Adventure]

Yes, I was hoping for Brave to be nominated too. Sadly, now this looks unlikely.

[IncredigirlVirginia]

@The Chicken Man

I was hoping for the “a film can’t be nominated for both Best Animated Feature and Best Picture when only IT is nominated for Best Picture” rule because if only ONE animated film is good enough to be nominated for Best Picture, then it’s better than the other animated films, and the Best Animated Feature category is pointless.

I agree completely.

Okay, I’m very confused. I read and reread over the rules, and I don’t understand. How is Brave unlikely for a nomination because of these rules? I don’t get it.

[definedancing]

It’s sad that an animated film is seemingly barred from winning and even being nominated for Best Picture. UP and TS3 had no chance of winning, WALL-E was blatantly robbed, and other Pixar efforts can certainly be argued over. The injust nature of the Oscars is shameful.

[The_Star_Swordsman]

It doesn’t get any easier for Animated movies to win Best Pictures huh? Why the rule changes? I thought that it’s all good for the past year. Why need change?

[thedriveintheatre]

Thanks for sharing this with us, Spirit. I’m kinda confused like IV too. Nowhere does it mention that an animated film can’t be nominated for a Best Pic with the new rules, only that the chances are now slimmer because they don’t have to ‘round up’ to ten. Regardless of whether there are now ten, five, or eight nominees, if an animated film doesn’t stick out prominently enough, the Academy is not gonna give it a chance anyway.

It is not so much how many items can get into the ‘shopping cart’, as more of an entire paradigm shift of the shopper itself. If the Academy (made up of old, white, men) doesn’t change its perception of animation as a medium and not a ‘genre’ for kids, it doesn’t matter whether we have a big or small “bakeoff”.

Also, while it is nice that they now don’t have to vote to ‘activate’ the Best Animated Ghetto category, it surprises me that they had to do it in the first place.

Like I said on Twitter:

I’ve learnt since 2008 that (the Academy Awards) is a predictable popularity contest that rarely gives the prize to deserving winners.

Of course, I realize that “deserving winners” is a loaded subjective phrase, but hey, if the Academy gives an Award to Brave, I’m happy. If they don’t, screw 'em, because I’m not going to let others decide what’s a good or bad movie in my heart.

[love70ways]

Wow this is a really great rule change and one that I had always thought the Academy should move to. A film should only be nominated for Best Picture if it truly deserves that credit, not simply because a quota of ten or five films needs to be filled. This should make nominations really interesting in the years to come. I hope that we see an array of numbers nominated each year. I am personally looking forward to when six films will be nominated. Eight would also be cool. I guess seven would be to…

[ellie-jessie-eve]

I like how they call the change of rules a ‘twist’. That’s neat.