Previous Academy President Sid Ganis made the decision of having ten Best Picture nominees at the 2010 ceremony due to the controversy over the "snubbing" of multiple films in the category at the 2009 ceremony, including
The Dark Knight (2008) and
WALL·E (2008), when there were only five nominees. The decision of having ten Best Picture nominees will allow for more of the Best films of 2009 to be acknowledged without the snubbing of some.
This is the first time since 1944 that there will be ten nominees in the category. During the first ceremony, 1928, there were only three Best Picture nominees, and from 1945 until 2009, there were five.