Oscars change Best Picture rule, another attack of the epidemic known as indecision

The Oscars have now changed their Best Picture nomination format... again
TWO YEARS after the Academy expanded their number of Best Picture nominations to 10.

The new rule stipulates that a film must have 5% of the total "first place votes" in order to be nominated for Best Picture.  The maximum number of films is still 10, but this means the number of films will be some indefinite number between 5 and 10.

Oh, ok.

If you want an idea of what that means, most of the time, the top 1st place vote getter has about 20% of the first place votes, so we can probably expect eight or nine nominations.
If you're like me, and play along closely at home, this is a huge curveball for predicting nominations, but for us close followers, it does provide some excitement.
I don't know if this really makes it that much more exciting, though.  When the academy went to ten, it was surprisingly good for recognition of the smaller films, but now, we must really be in a panic to not fill an entire ten nominations.  What with the new emphasis on increased commerce, Hollywood has been producing less movies for less competition at the box office.  But what about competition for the OSCARS?!?  If we have spectacle films with big budgets dominate the Oscars, there will be a lot of lash back, but at least we might have a little more variety at the theaters.

In other news, the Academy changes the Visual Effects category to include 5 nominations.

Could the lack of support from the smaller films actually harm the academy?  The answer is, I have no idea, but if it ends up poorly, could the academy sacrifice it's good name in order to give send the message of a stagnant film industry in the US?  Soon, whether you believe in 2012 or not, Hollywood will need a serious artistic makeover to save it from a truly apocalyptic implosion from greed and lack of true inspiration.

RIP This era of Hollywood film, 3 third golden age is the only thing that will save us.