10 Films to be Nominated for Best Picture at 82nd Academy Awards

The upcoming 82nd Academy Awards will be the first since 1943 to feature 10 nominations in the Best Picture Category. As always, only one film will be awarded the Best Picture Oscar, though Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis believes that including 10 Best Picture contenders “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.”

Earlier years of Oscar history have featured more than the five Best Picture nominees that have been customary in recent decades. In 1939, 10 films were nominated in that category; though Gone with the Wind ultimately won the award, it competed against such classic films as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach and The Wizard of Oz. The Academy is currently presenting a screening series of the 1939 nominees.

The 82nd Academy Award nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 with the awards show itself being held on March 7. It will be broadcast live on ABC from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. For more information on the screening series, visit http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events.