10 films were nominated for Best Picture at this year's Oscars. Is that an unusually high number?

Yes, it's double the number of films that have been nominated ... at least for past half-decade. More than fifty years ago, the number of films released was apparently much larger, so more films were nominated. Then the number of best picture nominees was reduced to five.So this isn't a new practice; it's returning to way things used to be.

Here's a quote from mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/2... about the increase from 5 to 10 nominees for this category: "(Sidney) Ganis (the academy's president) said deliberations that led to the change began in earnest after this year’s show, which in February drew a larger audience than in the past thanks, in part, to an effort by its producers, Laurence Mark and Bill Condon, to include widely publicized tributes to popular films that were not in contention. After the show, said Mr. Ganis, Mr. Mark and Mr. Condon both argued that the ceremony would have been served by a broader range of nominees. The discussion was later brought into focus by the academy’s work on a retrospective of the films of 1939, when the list of best picture nominees included “Ninotchka,” “Of Mice and Men,” “Dark Victory,” “Gone With the Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz” and others.

Between 1931 and 1943, said Mr. Ganis, the academy usually had 10 best picture nominees, though in some years it had either 8 or 12.

From what I have learned, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, aka the Oscars have stated that they have changed the nominees for Best Picture from the previous 5 to 10. I personally think that 5 is a little small when you're looking at Drama, Comedy, and many other genres that fight for that spot. Here is a quote from an article at the NY Times.

mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/2... ~quote "In a question-and-answer session that followed the ann “I would not be telling you the truth if I said the words ‘Dark Knight’ did not come up. € Earlier this year, “The Dark Knight,” a critically acclaimed blockbuster fantasy, was excluded from a list of nominees that included “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Reader” and the winner, “Slumdog Millionaire. € ~end/quote I say the more the merrier!

I'm sure it will make for an interesting evening... see you at the awards!

Now I have to see these films and decide for myself.

Apparently that was the original number. Starting last year the academy decided to go back to it. One can assume this will encourage viewers to go back to the movies.

The industry needs the $$$.

Social network movie was a good movie,according to me, by ecommerce developer.