Not enough people watch the Oscar’s.

That was the thinking behind the Academy’s decision to expand the field to ten Best Picture nominations instead of the usual five. This decision is very reactionary to the curious case of last year, when The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was the only film nominated to gross over $100 million. (And, to be fair, it only grossed $127 million domestic, a disappointment considering its budget of $150 million.)

The rest of the nominees last year were acquired tastes, let’s say. The Reader, Frost/Nixon, Milk, and Slumdog Millionaire were not mainstream audience, salt-of-the-earth-American kind of movies. Even Hugh Jackman, last year’s host of the Academy Awards, joked in song in his opening (and hilarious) musical number that described every Best Picture nominee, “The Reader - I haven’t seen The Reader.”   And no one else had, either. Slumdog Millionaire had caught fire heading into the award show and certainly gave those who did see it or care enough about the industry a compelling reason to watch, but it wasn’t going to attract the core American audience.

You know what would have, though? The Dark Knight. The Academy wanted to make up for its widely scorned snub of Christopher Nolan’s Batman entry and expand to ten to prevent this sort of thing from ever happening again. Too little, too late, though.

Truthfully, this is a bad year to expand to ten movies. After all, everyone and his dog saw Avatar a half-dozen times, so there’s no need to attract different niche audiences with a wider array of nominees. The Blind Side may have done some good for the Academy in a year like 2009, but it’s laughable in a field like what we have for 2010.

If the Academy had kept it at five this year, the only issue they may have run into would have been another Disney/Pixar exclusion. Last year, many people were upset Wall-E didn’t crack the top five, and you can be damn sure Main Street in Disneyland would have been painted in blood had Up! not made it in the top ten.

Let’s play make believe for a second and pretend the Academy only took five Best Picture nominations this year like usual. The list would automatically include Avatar, The Hurt Locker, and Up in the Air, easily the front runners in this year’s race. Next, I believe the rest of the field pales in comparison enough for this to have been the year Disney and Up! received a nod. That leaves one final spot for Precious (which would be this year’s Slumdog Millionaire if audiences fell in love with a dreary indie drama as much as they fall in love with an uplifting and heartwarming one) and A Serious Man (because they are the Coen brothers, after all). In a field of five, The Blind Side, An Education, District 9, and Inglourious Basterds would have been long shots. I’m not saying they’re bad films, but they are not top five material up against the rest.

But, alas, this is a field of ten. The Academy reacted to problems like snubbing The Dark Knight and Up! as well as last year’s yawn-inducing options by taking an Extenze to make themselves longer and, hopefully, more attractive…to women and men.

In thirty days, we’ll find out if the Academy’s grand scheme pays off and ropes in a large audience. If it does, though, you have to take the high ratings with a grain of salt. You certainly can’t say it’s strictly because the biggest prize of the night now includes double the candidates since Avatar is enough to attract attention across demographics on its own.

Then I guess the only real question we’ll be able to answer this year is this: How much longer will the Oscar’s run this year with extra meat in the soup? If it lasts longer than four hours, perhaps the Academy should seek medical attention.