Oscars admit growing irrelevance;

A very interesting announcement today from the Academy Awards.

From next year, the field for Best Picture will consist of 10 films instead of 5.

The Oscars' people say

“Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize.”

Don't be fooled. This is all about the studios and TV Networks being annoyed that the five nominated films in recent years have for the most part been poor box office performers.

By having 10 nominations, that means 5 more films can slap "Nominated for Best Picture" on their adverts and movie posters, and it also means there will be a much greater likelihood that films like The Dark Knight will get nominated, and thus more people might actually tune in to watch the Award ceremony.

Had there been 10 nominations last year, The Dark Knight, Wall-E and Grand Torino would likely have been nominated. And who knows, maybe Mamma Mia as well. I think what will likely happen is the field will consist of pretty much all the films that get nominated for Best Drama and Best Comedy/Musical for the Golden Globes. So if it does lead to more comedies getting a chance to win, then I'm all for it.

But hey, at the end of the day, the Oscars have always been about money. No matter how many films get nominated, we'll still all disagree with the final choice!