Whatever you may think of AMPAS's decision to expand the number of Best Picture nominees to ten, it's hard to deny it's brought a jolt of excitement to Oscar jockeying. Unfortunately, it's also come with a few murky problems attached, including the realization that with such a vast number of nominees, the Best Picture winner could potentially be chosen by less than 20% of voters.
Now, though, AMPAS is hoping to guard against such a niche win by changing the final ballots. Previously, voters would pick only a single film to win, but now they'll be asked to rank all ten nominees and those results will be tallied by a preferential voting system (already used to choose the nominees in the first place), ensuring that the eventual winner will need a broad base of support from the entire membership.
Still, assuming that the voters will have seen all ten nominees may be a reach; while a smaller film like The Hurt Locker would pick up plenty of votes under the old system, one wonders whether it'll now be wounded by the low rankings of voters who haven't seen it. Developing...