The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) approved a rule change for the Oscars last week. The new rule states that the number of original songs that can be nominated from a single movie will now be limited to two.
In the past, no such rule existed and a single movie could gain as many nominations as there were for the category. Last year, Disney’s Enchanted had three titles in contention: “Happy Working Song,” “So Close” and “That’s How You Know.” In 2007, Dreamgirls had three songs nominated as well.
The rule change might not be all that bad, though. In both of the above examples, none of the songs nominated were able to pull off the win. Last year the Oscar went to “Falling Slowly” from Once while Dreamgirls lost out to “I Need to Wake Up” from An Inconvenient Truth.
The most logical conclusion that can be reached is that the more songs a movie has nominated, the more chances there are for the votes to be split between those songs. By limiting the number of songs that can be nominated from each movie, the Academy is really helping the movies have a better chance of actually winning an Oscar.
I think it’s a good rule change. What do you think?
Good rule change. I think plenty of movies out there have good songs in them, and a film should pick the best one they have and put that one forth for a nomination. Heck, even 2 seems like a lot.
Doesn't matter, Once won last year despite 3 Enchanted songs, so I'm happy either way
I think the right song won last year, but it could be argued that it only won because the Enchanted songs all competed against themselves. Not sure if that's true.
I actually thought at least one song from Hairspray should have been nominated. It was a fun film with a lot of good music.
I don't know if I agree with the change in thinking that it is good. I think any song that is Oscar worthy should be allowed into the final cut regardless of how many come from the same movie. I might have a hard time believing that Enchanted had three songs that were that good to make the nominations rather than they had too many.
I think sometimes there is a lack of creativity on the Academy's part in nominations for original songs. Namely because there are SO MANY good songs out there each year. If this forces them to do a little more homework on nominations, then good.
As for last year, Enchanted could have held all but one nomination, and Once's Falling Slowly still would have won. It was such a classic song with an emotional connection to the movie, making it the natural choice.
Honestly, I think three songs being nominated from Enchanted was just someone being lazy. The same thing with Dreamgirls. Out of all the movies that come out every year, I can't see how you can justify picking three songs from one movie and only leaving two other nomination slots open for all the rest. At least this new rule will help somewhat with that.