It’s time again to grab some popcorn and a seat at the movie theater to enjoy some of the year’s best films.The Academy Awards will be held March 7, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the nominees Feb. 2. The five-month long awards season has begun, but there are some new changes to the race for the biggest prize — Best Picture.The AMPAS, the group responsible for the Academy Awards, decided in June to expand the Best Picture race from five films to 10 with the intention of allowing films which have been squeezed from the race, like animated films and blockbusters, to be contenders, according to a statement from AMPAS President Sid Ganis.This change allows for more films to be considered “Oscar contenders,” Ganis said. Previous films have been nominated based on certain traits which are appealing to the Academy.”Most of the nominees are independent films or are period pieces,” said Mari Kornhauser, associate screenwriting professor. “Issue pieces like ‘Monster’ and ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ also tend to appeal.”The broader range of movies on the Best Picture list could provide for wider, more mainstream appeal, said Joyce Eng of TV Guide. Movies like “Up,” “Inglorious Basterds” and “District 9″ are on many current Oscar prediction lists online like Awards Daily and The Awards Circuit.Hit movies — which previously wouldn’t have been considered and may now be nominated — could increase the appeal of the Academy Awards, according to some students.”I would be more tempted to watch [the Oscars] because of name recognition,” said Sylvia Bolar, political science sophomore. “There are always a lot of foreign movies that I have never heard of that get nominated.”The Academy Awards and other award show honors can help a largely unknown movie become a hit at the box office, like last year’s Best Picture winner ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ judging from past student experiences. “The awards get me interested in seeing a movie,” said Stephanie Rizzuto, biology sophomore. “I had never even heard of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ before it won all those awards.”Increased interest in Oscar-winning films and people going to see them at the local cinema does not always mean a boost at the box office though, said Craig Worth, general manager at the Rave Motion Pictures cinema on Picardy Avenue.”There is not really a boost in tickets,” Worth said. “We do love to bring in the nominees though. They provide more of a film choice and help fill in the gaps.”But one negative of the increased number of nominees could deal with the award show’s runtime, Kornhauser said. The coverage of additional films could cause the already drawn-out Academy Awards show to be even longer, causing viewers to be bored, she said.”With all the [Best Picture] clips, they won’t be getting to the awards,” Kornhauser said. “[The Academy] will be risking losing the audience they have because the showing of 10 Best Picture clips will be boring.”—-Contact Alex White at [email protected]