With awards season quickly drawing near, the Academy has been working hard to sort through the year’s movies in order to create their list of nominees for this year’s Oscars.
After trucking through the scads of films that were released during 2009, the Academy announced on Friday that 274 of the year’s films are eligible for the coveted Best Picture Oscar. While this sounds like a fairly hefty amount to have to narrow down for the final nominee ballot, it’s actually down from last year’s number.
Last year, the Academy had 281 films to consider for awards. This year’s decrease in possibilities follows a trend that has been going on for a number of years. 2005 saw a high for eligible award nominees, with 311 eligible films, and since then that number has declined each year. 2006 and 2007 saw relatively small decreases, having 307 and 306 qualifiers, but last year saw the drop to 281.
According to the Academy, a movie is classified as a feature film only if its run time is longer than 40 minutes, and it has been shown theatrically on 35mm film, 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format. Films that fall within those parameters must open in a commercial cinema in L.A. County by midnight on December 31st, with the opening being the start of a run of at least seven days.
The Academy has its work cut out for it, but will announce nominations on February 2nd, with the 82nd Academy Awards airing on March 7th.
