(“DOES THIS HAVE CHOCOLATE IN IT?”)

Back in June, the Academy announced that the Best Picture Oscar category would expand to 10 nominees, in order to rob five more films when Slumdog Millionaire wins. Now they say they’re also switching to a “preferential voting” system.  It’s sort of complicated, but basically it’s like a sorority rush without “circle the fat.”

Voters will be asked to rank their preference from 1 to 10, with 1 being best. It’s the same preferential voting system that the Academy uses in its nominating process, but it hasn’t been used in best picture voting since 1945.
The Academy has opted to use the preferential system in the best picture race because with a field of 10 nominees, a winner could emerge with just slightly more than 580 votes out of the potential voting pool of 5,800 members.
…ballots are first separated according to first-place choices. If one film wins a majority among all first-place votes, it’s the winner.  If not, the film with the fewest number of first-place votes is eliminated and the No. 2 choices on those ballots are redistributed among the remaining films. The process continues until one film has picked up a majority of votes. [THR]

In addition, FilmDrunk has learned exclusively of the following amendments to the voting system:

  • +20 votes are awarded if the film depicts the holocaust
  • +10 for other genocides
  • A film earns +5 votes if the main character is a dead celebrity
  • +5 if the lead is a musician
  • +15 if the main character is a musician who is also a dead celebrity
  • +40 for dead celebrity musicians during the holocaust
  • An additional 20 votes are awarded to films which treat characters with a mental deficiency in a dignified manner
  • +10 for a physical deficiency
  • +5 for romanticization of the Third World
  • +5 for every 25 pounds of weight an attractive actor gains for a role, plus an additional 5 for prosthetic noses, unibrows, liver spots, club feet, etc.  Note: not eligible if Jared Leto.
  • +10 for films set in New York or Los Angeles
  • Cartoonish depictions of race relations earn 5 additional votes
  • Historically accurate period pieces with a running time of more than 150 minutes receive 5 votes, plus 5 votes for every additional 10 minutes of running time