When there were five nominees, the minimum requirement was about 930, Amy said.
"The good part about this is it means a wider variety of movies that a significant minority like should be chosen," he said. With an extra five slots available, in other words, films that provoke strongly divergent opinions but have a passionate voting bloc have a better chance to land a nomination.
Movies that do not receive any first-place votes are eliminated from consideration for best picture. Therefore, it is conceivable that films that are popular with many voters but are nobody's favorite won't get nominations.
David Foster, a veteran producer ("The Mask of Zorro," "The River Wild") and academy member, said he welcomed the changes.
"Clearly something was wrong the last bunch of years. If something is wrong with something, you have to figure out a way to correct it," Foster said.
"I think it's good we expand. Some of the old rules are too old. This is the 21st century, for God's sake."
--
john.horn@latimes.com
rachel.a bramowitz@latimes.com
ben.fritz@latimes.com
