– "The Artist"
– "The Descendants"
– "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"
– "The Help"
– "Hugo"
– "Moneyball"
– "The Tree of Life"
– "War Horse"
Upsets: For the ceremony honoring 2009 films, the Academy famously expanded its Best Picture nomination list to 10 nominees and received complaints that the list had filler films that would otherwise have not gotten a nomination. So now anywhere between five and 10 films can be nominated. This year, it was nine, with "Artists" and "Descendants" considered shoo-ins, as well as "The Help," "War Horse," "Hugo," and "Midnight in Paris." "Moneyball" was considered a possibility and had a pretty good shot, however, "The Tree of Life" had lost some of its momentum since awards season began and was thought to have less of a chance. And "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" was considered by most critics, after tepid reviews, not to have a chance of getting close to this prize. With "Tree" and "Extremely Loud" getting nominations, strong contenders like "Bridesmaids" and "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" lost out.
