The movie industry took what it hopes will be a big step toward making its star-studded Academy Awards ceremony a must-see event again, by including more audience favorites Tuesday in its expanded list of best-picture nominees.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences decided last year to double the number of candidates for Hollywood's top prize to 10 from five, in a move to boost television ratings for the awards show.

The Oscars, broadcast live around the world, were once a ratings juggernaut. But in the past few years, the show's popularity has slipped, its television audience has aged and its relevance as a barometer of popular culture has been questioned.

Dramatically expanding the number of films in contention for the top honors, however, has allowed crowd-pleasing hits to bask in the Oscar aura along with the art-house fare that the academy often favors.

So far, the move appears likely to have the intended effect. In addition to low-grossing critics' favorites like 'The Hurt Locker,' 'An Education' and 'A Serious Man,' the 10 nominees announced Tuesday include three of the eight top-grossing films of 2009: 'Avatar,' 'Up' and 'The Blind Side.'

The other nominees are 'Inglourious Basterds,' 'Up in the Air,' 'Precious' and 'District 9.'

The 10 nominees' average box-office gross in the U.S. and Canada was $151 million through last weekend, more than double the $71 million average for last year's field, according to Box Office Mojo. The field's total domestic gross of $1.5 billion is more than four times as large as last year's total of $353 million.

The biggest surprise was the nomination of 'The Blind Side,' a family-oriented football drama that stars Sandra Bullock and played far better in heartland cities like Plano, Texas, than it did in New York or Los Angeles.

The film's backers are under no illusions about their prospects. 'We don't believe we have any chance of winning,' said Broderick Johnson, co-chief executive of Alcon Entertainment, which produced and marketed 'The Blind Side.' 'So we can relax and savor the nomination.'

Hollywood executives said the academy's roughly 6,000 voting members might have favored the same hit films enjoyed by the rest of America simply because they, too, had seen them.

While U.S. viewership for last year's Oscars increased 13% over the previous year, to 36 million, the program's ratings have been in a steady decline for years from a high of 55 million in 1998. That was the year the best-picture Oscar went to the blockbuster 'Titanic' -- the previous feature from 'Avatar' director James Cameron.

Just two of last year's nominees made more than $100 million domestically: 'Slumdog Millionaire,' which won, and 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.' The rest made less than $35 million each. By contrast, five of this year's nominees made more than $100 million.

周二，奧斯卡金像獎(jiǎng)(Academy Awards)主辦方將更多受觀眾喜愛(ài)的影片納入已擴(kuò)大的最佳影片提名名單中，希望此舉將有助于把群星璀璨的奧斯卡頒獎(jiǎng)典禮打造成一個(gè)人人必看的節(jié)目。

美國(guó)電影藝術(shù)與科學(xué)學(xué)院(Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences)去年決定，把奧斯卡最佳影片獎(jiǎng)這一好萊塢最高獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)的候選影片數(shù)量從五部提高到10部。這個(gè)措施的目的是為了提高頒獎(jiǎng)典禮的收視率。

奧斯卡頒獎(jiǎng)典禮為全球直播，收視率一度極高，但在過(guò)去幾年，它的受歡迎程度下降，其電視觀眾的平均年齡在增長(zhǎng)，它作為流行文化晴雨表的地位也受到質(zhì)疑。

大幅提高頂級(jí)獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)的提名影片數(shù)量意味著，廣大觀眾喜愛(ài)的熱門電影可以與奧斯卡通常青睞的嚴(yán)肅藝術(shù)電影一起共享奧斯卡的光環(huán)。

從目前來(lái)看，此舉可能會(huì)產(chǎn)生預(yù)期效果。周二宣布的10部提名影片中，除了《拆彈部隊(duì)》(The Hurt Locker)、《成長(zhǎng)教育》(An Education)和《嚴(yán)肅的男人》(A Serious Man)這些票房低但受評(píng)論家喜愛(ài)的影片以外，還包括了2009年票房最高的八部電影中的三部：《阿凡達(dá)》(Avatar)、《飛屋環(huán)游記》(Up)和《弱點(diǎn)》(The Blind Side)。

另外幾部提名影片分別是《無(wú)恥混蛋》(Inglourious Basterds)、《在云端》(Up in the Air)、《珍愛(ài)》(Precious)和《第九區(qū)》(District 9)。

據(jù)票房網(wǎng)站Box Office Mojo的數(shù)據(jù)，截至上個(gè)周末，10部提名影片在美國(guó)和加拿大的平均票房收入為1.51億美元，是去年提名影片平均票房收入7,100萬(wàn)美元的兩倍多。這些影片在北美地區(qū)共15億美元的總票房，是去年總票房3.53億美元的四倍多。

最大的意外要屬《弱點(diǎn)》的提名。這是一部適合全家觀看的橄欖球題材影片，桑德拉?布洛克(Sandra Bullock)主演，在得克薩斯普萊諾這樣的美國(guó)內(nèi)陸城市的票房表現(xiàn)比在紐約或洛杉磯好很多。

影片的幕后團(tuán)隊(duì)沒(méi)有抱持任何幻想。《弱點(diǎn)》的制作與營(yíng)銷機(jī)構(gòu)艾肯娛樂(lè)公司(Alcon Entertainment)聯(lián)席首席執(zhí)行長(zhǎng)約翰遜(Broderick Johnson)說(shuō)，我們不相信自己有任何獲勝的機(jī)會(huì)，所以我們可以安安心心地享受這次提名。

好萊塢的經(jīng)理人們表示，約6,000評(píng)委選出來(lái)的影片可能和其他美國(guó)人所喜歡的一樣，原因很簡(jiǎn)單，他們自己也看過(guò)這些電影。

去年奧斯卡頒獎(jiǎng)典禮的觀眾人數(shù)為3,600萬(wàn)，較前一年增長(zhǎng)13%，但自從1998年觀眾人數(shù)達(dá)到5,500萬(wàn)以來(lái)，節(jié)目的收視率一直節(jié)節(jié)下降。1998年，奧斯卡最佳影片大獎(jiǎng)?lì)C給了票房大片《泰坦尼克號(hào)》(Titanic)，即《阿凡達(dá)》導(dǎo)演卡梅隆(James Cameron)的上一部制作。

去年提名影片中只有兩部的北美票房超過(guò)1億美元，它們分別是《貧民窟的百萬(wàn)富翁》(Slumdog Millionaire)和《返老還童》(The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)，前一部最終獲獎(jiǎng)。其他幾部提名影片單片票房均不及3,500萬(wàn)美元。相比之下，今年有五部提名影片票房過(guò)億。