You may recall how in an effort to boost viewing numbers, the Academy Awards have opened up the Best Picture category so that your favorite (bat-themed and/or Pixar) films can be nominated alongside whatever the Coen Bros/Scorsese have out that year. But with this new expansion now comes a new set of voting rules, one that involves the 5,800 Academy members ranking their choices in order.
“Instead of just marking an ‘X’ to indicate which one picture they believe to be the best, members will indicate their second, third and further preferences as well,” Academy president Tom Sherak said. “PricewaterhouseCoopers will then be able to establish the best picture recipient with the strongest support of a majority of our electorate.”
The reasoning for this is with ten films now nominated, the vote is much more likely to be split, and it doesn’t seem fair that a nominee could theoretically win with 11% of the vote. By ranking, this will ensure that this won’t happen, and also that you really shouldn’t see dramatic shake-ups in the kinds of films that win, as I doubt you would have seen the snobs members of the Academy all rallying together for THE DARK KNIGHT, should it have found their way onto their ballots last year.
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