and start
applying to auditions!
"After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year," Ganis said at a Beverly Hills news conference. "The final outcome, of course, will be the same -- one best picture winner -- but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009."
For more than a decade during the Academy's earlier years, the best picture category welcomed more than five films; for nine years, there were 10 nominees. The 16th Academy Awards in 1943 was the last year to include a field of that size; Casablanca was named best picture.
The Golden Globes offers 10 best picture noms--five in comedy or musical and five in drama.
The 82nd Academy Award nominations will be announced on Tuesday, Feb. 2, with the Oscars show set for March 7 to be televised on ABC.
