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Movie Studios Not Happy About New Oscar Options

  • Reuters, Monday, June 29, 2009 10:23 AM
When the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced it would open the Oscar best picture race to 10, filmmakers got excited. So did the networks, thinking it would increase ratings. The movie studios are another story.

Tony Angellotti, who consults for Universal and Disney Animation, thinks the move could well dilute the award's impact and quality. "I would imagine the studios are grieving over this. They'll have to spend more money and not likely see a return -- just what they don't need in a recession." Another executive worried it would clog up distribution to release lot's of films during awards consideration time.

The big question in 2010: Will we see more movies in contention like "The Reader," which few saw, or more documentaries, like "An Inconvenient Truth," which is serious fare. Or will the new, more expansive Academy relax its criteria and put a comedy like "Borat" into the mix?

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