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Star Trek for Oscar? Academy Expands Best Picture to 10
Disney Pixar; Courtesy of Paramount Pictures; Peter Mountain/Universal Studios; Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures; AMPAS
It's a year too late for The Dark Knight, but maybe those Hangover guys will have something extra special to celebrate.
This year's Best Picture field will be expanded to 10 contenders, the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.
The move could mean typically overlooked genres like sci-fi, comedy and animation could get a crack at the big prize—and could spell good news for this year's biggest hits, Star Trek, The Hangover and Up.
While the Best Picture category, like the rest of the Oscar fields, has traditionally been limited to five nominees in recent decades, it hasn't always been so.
During the early years of the Oscars, there were 10 (and sometimes more) nominees, up until Casablanca beat back nine rivals at the 16th Academy Awards at the 1943 ceremony.
Today's announcement comes as the Academy continues to mark the 70th anniversary of "Hollywood's Greatest Year"—1939 saw the release of such classic films as Best Picture winner Gone With the Wind, along with fellow Oscar nominees The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Ninotchka, Dark Victory, Love Affair, Of Mice and Men, Wuthering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards will be announced Feb. 2, 2010, with the ceremony set for March 7.
(Originally published June 24, 2009, at 10:35 a.m. PT)
Oscar Gets a New Date
AP Photo/Jennifer Graylock
This golden guy is going to be a little tardy.
The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will air live on ABC from Los Angeles' Kodak Theatre on March 7, 2010, to avoid a ratings showdown with the Winter Olympics, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today. Nominations will be revealed Feb. 2.
Team Oscar unveiled key dates leading up to next year's ceremony, taking into account the 2010 Winter Olympics, which run Feb. 12-28 in Vancouver.
Last year's Academy Awards were held on Feb. 22 and hosted by Hugh Jackman, who won mostly rave reviews for his song-and-dance shtick.
This is the first time the Oscars will be held in March since 2004, when the Academy decided to move the kudos to February ostensibly to fend off competitors like the Golden Globe, SAG and Critics' Choice awards that have taken some of the gloss off Tinseltown's oldest trophy-giving show.
Update
Slumdog Stars Get Huge India Homecoming
AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade
The stars of Slumdog Millionaire have been thanked a, well, million by their countryfolk, as hundreds of fans—and dozens of armed, peacekeeping police—turned out at Mumbai's international airport early this morning to welcome the film's child stars and two-time Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman back to India.
Taking a cue from the film that earned eight Oscars, the excitable crowd chanted "Jai Ho!" and greeted Rahman, who touched down around 2:30 a.m., with welcoming bouquets as he made his way through the airport.
"I dedicate the Oscars to the people of the country and young and budding music artists," he said, going on to call his hero's welcome an "overwhelming reception," and saying that his winning "shows anything is possible."
Slumdog Kids No Longer Slumming It
Courtesy: Paul Hiffmeyer/Disneyland
And they thought their good fortune peaked when they met Mickey.
Two of Slumdog Millionaire's child actors are, quite literally, slumming it no more, with the Indian government rewarding the poverty-stricken toasts of Hollywood with new homes for their families outside of the Mumbai slums.
Amarjeet Singh Manhas, the chairman of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, said that Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail, who played the youngest versions of Freida Pinto and Madhur Mittal's characters, Latika and Salim, in the Oscar juggernaut, "are special and have won laurels for the country and we want to felicitate them."
"Since the children have made the nation proud, they must be given free houses," Manhas said. "The chief minister of the state has approved this. Their families will receive notification in a couple of days."
Why Oscar Might Want to Reward Robert Pattinson, Reconsider Chris Rock
John Shearer/Getty Images
Why are Robert Pattinson and Zac Efron owed tips from Oscar organizers? Why is Chris Rock owed an apology from the Oscar press? And when the heck is Nielsen going to start folding in Web and mobile-phone use—and start saving your favorite endangered show?
The answers—and more questions—in this week's TV ratings pop quiz:
1. Did Pattinson and Efron really save the Oscars? Fans of Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Kate Winslet, among others, say, "Are you outta your mind?" The numbers, however, suggest the two tween gods sure didn't hurt. The show's ratings among teens 12-17 and kids 2-11 zoomed, up 25 percent and 33 percent, respectively, from last year, ABC said, citing Nielsen stats.
Why Is Miley's Oscar Dress So Familiar?
AP Photo/Amy Sancetta
Why does Miley's Oscar gown look really familiar?
—Pali, Delhi
You speak of Miley Cyrus' sparkling tribute to the mighty Neptune, king of the sea. Fashion insiders are buzzing that it looks just a leeeetle too much like an iconic Dior gown from 1949 called the Junon. Whether it teeters closer to homage or tips all the way over into ripoff territory, well, that's a matter for debate.
Just how similar are these dresses? Well...
Aaron Eckhart on Heath’s Win, Dark Knight’s Snub
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Warner Bros. Entertainment
Even more predictable than the Oscar producers cutting to Brangelina during Aniston presenting, Heath Ledger (or rather his family) finally has his Best Supporting Actor trophy.
"I'm very proud of The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger," gabbed Two Face himself, Aaron Eckhart, to us at an Oscar do.
But we had to ask: Was the megahit totally snubbed out of the Best Picture race?
Morning Piss: Some Sobering Bitching for Obama
ABC/Donna Svennevik; Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for VH1
Backstage at the Oscars, I apparently started something when I asked Milk's Best Original Screenplay winner, Dustin Lance Black, if he felt President Obama should reverse his stand against gay marriage.
"Absolutely," Black (who was raised a Mormon, interestingly enough) exclaimed to me.
A reporter later also asked Sean Penn my same query about the president's unfortunate stand on gay unions. Penn, brow-wrinkled, replied that he hoped Obama's anti-gay-marriage stance was a "political" one, and not one from the heart, and that he, too, felt the 44th prez should reconsider his intolerant position.
This was such a personality change for Penn!
Last time he was backstage with his Oscar (for Mystic River), Robin's naughty hubby was chewing ice from his cocktail tumbler the whole time, ranting away! Not so 2009: Penn, circumspect, meant business with his serious words to the president. Besides, he got smart this time: He had his publicist hold his cocktail glass for him offstage, out of camera range.
Has Anyone Stolen an Actor's Oscar Statue?
ABC/ADAM LARKEY
Has anyone's Oscar been stolen on Oscar night? Or lost?
—Miss Keli, via Twitter
Probably. But more often they go missing years later.
Angelina Jolie recently told the press she has no idea where her Girl, Interrupted Oscar is. She handed it off to her mother, Marcheline Betrand, who carefully hid it away because of its obvious significance to the history of mankind.
But Bertrand has since passed away, and Jolie was recently quoted as saying, "I didn't actually lose it, but nobody knows where it is at the moment."
Matt Damon also may not know where his Oscar is for Good Will Hunting. Seriously...
Post-Oscar Roundup: John Snaps Hotties, Jen Hisses
Kevin Mazur/VF/Getty Images
Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer may not have been attached at the hip all night Sunday. But the two darling lovebirds def looked like a real couple, complete with Revolutionary Road-style feisty jealousy, at the Vanity Fair party.
Mayer was taking a pic with some attractive babes, and Aniston was all but pleased about sharing her main man. After the gushy photo-sesh, J.A. was overheard at the bar telling John, "What are you doing? Do you know them?"
Meow, way to crack that whip, girl! You really don't want to be lassoed down with any dude, admit it. Another cougar at VF looking quite smashing was…
Update
Oscar Ratings Jackman-ed Up, But Jonas Brothers Can't Save Barbara Walters
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Jon Stewart Is Not Off the Hook: Sunday's Oscars improved over last year's historically low-rated telecast by 4.3 million viewers, ABC said, citing Nielsen estimates. The Hugh Jackman-hosted show beat the Stewart-hosted show, 36.3 million to 32 million.
Where the Show Ranked: Among this season's award shows, including the resurgent Grammys and Golden Globes, the Oscars was No. 1. Among this season's entertainment telecasts, including every episode of American Idol, the Oscars was No. 1. Among Oscar telecasts this decade, well…
About the History Thing: In Oscars' now-concluded run through the 2000s, last night's show ranked eighth, also known as two spots away from the bottom. The 2000 telecast, hosted by Billy Crystal, runs away as the decade's biggest, with 46.3 million viewers.
Kate Winslet's Prophetic Joke: Holocaust = Oscar
Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy!
As excited as she was about her big Best Actress win at the Oscars last night, Kate Winslet surely saw it coming. In fact, she predicted only a few years ago that participating in a Holocaust film not unlike The Reader might bring her a little gold man!
In 2005, the much-lauded actress appeared on the comedy series Extras playing herself. When Ricky Gervais' character commends the actress for doing a Holocaust movie, she tells him it has nothing to do with spreading the message.
"I don't think we need another film about the Holocaust, do we?" her character version of herself says. "It's like, how many have there been? We get it. It was grim. Move on. No, I'm doing it because I've noticed that if you do a film about the Holocaust, [you're] guaranteed an Oscar. I've been nominated four times—never won. The whole world is going, 'Why hasn't Winslet won one?' That's it. That's why I'm doing it. Schindler's bloody List. The Pianist. Oscars coming out of their ass!"
Something tells us the statuette wasn't the main reason Winslet signed on to play Nazi guard Hanna Schmitz in The Reader. But perhaps her moment on Extras left a minor impression...
