Oscar award nomination rules changed

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organizes the annual Oscar awards, said its board voted on Tuesday night to bring in new rules for the Best Picture competition.

In fact, the Academy had increased the best picture category form five to ten pictures two years ago, but this year the Academy might not nominate 10 movies for the best picture.

The number won’t be declared until the Best Picture nominees are revealed at the nominations announcement on January 24.

“With the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we’ve been looking that what would have happened if we had been selecting 10 nominees for the past 10 years,” said Academy President Tom Sherak, who noted that it was retiring Academy executive director Bruce.

Davis recommended the change first to Sherak and incoming CEO Dawn Hudson and then to the governors, Hollywood Reporter said.

The average percentage of first place votes received by the top vote-getting movie was 20.5, but later when Academy officials analyzed it was determined that 5 percent of first place votes should be minimum to receive a nomination.

“The Academy members had regularly shown a strong approval 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.”

Regardless of the number of movies nominated, the final round of voting for Best Picture will continue to employ the special system.

Other rule changes approved by the Board include:

A minimum number of eight releases are still required for animation feature film category to compete. The Board has approved for minor changes to the number of possible nominees in the Animated Feature category since the short films and feature animation branch are also recommended.

If there are eight to 12 animated features, then two or three of them might be nominated. If 13 to 15 features are released then a maximum of four might be nominated, and if 16 or more animated features are released then a maximum of five might be nominated.

The bake off in the visual effects category, at which the nominees are to pitch their work has increased from 7 to 10 participants.

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

The Awards Rules Committee reviews all proposed changes before presenting its suggestions 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.

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.