In June, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced it would feature 10 Best Picture nominees in this year’s Oscar race. That’s double the number of nominees that have been selected in past years.
This is certainly going to take some getting used to. For one thing, you’re going to have Best Picture nominees that are completely shut out of the acting and technical categories. Much speculation has surrounded this decision, but the most plausible explanation I’ve heard is that the Academy wants to make room for blockbusters like The Dark Knight, which could help draw more viewers to its annual telecast. It could also leave room for more idiosyncratic fare, like documentaries and indie films. So it’s likely that some films that would have been shut out in past years will vie for the top prize next March - films like Watchmen, Up, Inglourious Basterds and District 9.
I thought it might be fun to go back and guess which films might have made the cut had this system been in place five years ago. I’ve selected some of the movies that people thought were “snubbed” at the time, and I’ve included some blockbusters that might have been recognized had there been more slots. (I’ve also listed the five films that were in fact nominated.) These lists are probably tainted by some wishful thinking on my part, but here goes:
2008
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Gran Torino
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Tropic Thunder
Wall-E
The Wrestler
2007
Atonement
Hairspray
Into the Wild
Knocked Up
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood
2006
Babel
Borat
Children of Men
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen
United 93
2005
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck.
A History of Violence
Hustle & Flow
March of the Penguins
Munich
Pride and Prejudice
2004
The Aviator
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Finding Neverland
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Incredibles
Million Dollar Baby
The Passion of the Christ
Ray
Sideways
Spider-Man 2
