10 Best Picture nominees next year

I got word on IMDb today that, for next year's Oscar ceremony, the Academy has decided to increase the number of Best Picture nominees from five to ten! The rationale given by the Academy president is thus:

"Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize."

If I'm not mistaken, the last time the Best Picture category had more than five nominees was in the '40s. That was the era when landmark films such as Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, and Rebecca beat out numerous other competitors—some of which were landmark films themselves! Think of The Philadelphia Story, Citizen Kane, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, even The Wizard of Oz!

I can see this adding great excitement to the race for Best Picture, because it raises the bar for films with that much more competition. The one question that comes to mind, however, is whether this will ever extend into the other Oscar categories—Best Actor, Best Director, etc.