The Oscarologist: Best Picture Field is Doubled and Diminished

In announcing in June that this year's Best Picture Oscar category would expand from five to 10 nominees, Academy President Sid Ganis virtually admitted that the reason was because the Batman movie 'The Dark Knight' was snubbed last year. Imagine what having a billion-dollar worldwide hit nominated for Best Picture might have done for the sagging TV ratings!

Though franchise action films rarely get nominated for Best Picture, even critics agreed that 'The Dark Knight' was deserving. The writing, the acting and Christopher Nolan's direction transcended the genre. And if Price-Waterhouse were to open their books, I'd bet 'The Dark Knight' didn't miss making the final five by much.

But it got skunked at the high end. Of its eight nominations, only one -- Best Supporting Actor for the late Heath Ledger -- was in one of the glam categories. Now, in this year of NO 'DARK KNIGHT' YET, the Academy may be wondering -- as we are -- what they've done.

The expanded Best Picture ballot has already shaken the structure of the Awards. Pixar's 'Up,' a fine CGI cartoon which would have been odds-on to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar, is now being bandied as a Best Picture contender. You have to wonder how that likelihood will effect the voters' judgment, both in the general pool and in the small branch that nominates pictures for Best Animated Feature. 'Up' could make both ballots, or neither. Either way, it would be an insult to its rivals.

In that June announcement, Ganis alluded to "movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize." He didn't mean movies like 'Up,' he meant action blockbusters like 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' the 'Harry Potter' movies, 'Spider-Man,' the old 'Die Hard' and 'Lethal Weapon' franchises, and, of course, 'Batman.'

The fact is, those movies weren't squeezed out; they didn't make the grade. Their greatest achievements were in their production values -- cinematography, visual effects, sound and film editing -- and most received their just rewards. In June, Ganis closed his announcement with a swoon: "I can't wait to see what that list of 10 looks like when the nominees are announced in February."

Me, either, but not for the same reason. Academy voters will have trouble finding five movies with legitimate claims on greatness, let alone for a gold-plated piece of history. In digging deeper for another five contenders, they inevitably wilI produce a Best Picture ballot that diminishes the honor of being on it. And it may still not include an audience-building blockbuster.

What would it be, 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,' 'Star Trek,' 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop'? Like every suspended adolescent male, I loved the $277 million hit 'The Hangover,' but as Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers said, "it 'ain't art." No, and it ain't going to get a Best Picture nomination,either.

As a matter of record, Academy voters have nominated many blockbusters for Best Picture, and three times in recent history -- 'Titanic' in 1997, 'Gladiator' in 2000 and 'Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' in 2003 -- have annointed them King of the World. The deal is, when big action movies are made well (and sometimes not so well), audiences will come. Make them great and awards will, too.

Ganis' predecessors, admittedly working in the pre-TV era, showed terrific judgment in 1944 in cutting the number of nominees from the then traditional 10 to five. It wasn't because they had trouble filling out the ballot with deserving pictures. On the contrary, there were hundreds more movies made every year and all 10 nominees from 1944 -- including the winner 'Casablanca' -- became classics. But halving the list more than doubled the prestige for those who would make it.

We shall see, along with Ganis, what wonders the 2009 Best Picture ballot will include. My guess is that instead of nominating blockbuster summer films, the Acaemy voters will simply nominate more small, dramatically ambitious movies, like 'Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire' and Kathryn Bigelow's critically acclaimed box office bomb 'The Hurt Locker.'

If Ganis were to get his wish, the ballot would include 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon,' 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' and a couple of Sandra Bullock movies, and you won't know if you're watching the Oscars or 'People's Choice Awards.'

Here's the current list of the year's top-grossing movies. How many Best Picture contenders do you see there?
1. 'Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen'
2. 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'
3. 'Up'
4. 'The Hangover'
5. 'Star Trek'
6. 'New Moon'
7. 'Monsters vs. Aliens'
8. 'Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'
9. 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'
10. 'Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian'