Oscars: Film Academy Announces New Plans to Increase Diversity, Expands Best Picture Category To 10 Films Permanently

It creates confusion and the root of all of this confusion is the fact that the Oscars never releases any raw data or even a ranked list of results. The only information you have are the films that were nominated and the actual winner.

This comes up from time to time with "oscars so white" style controversies. In those arguments, it matters if Michael B. Jordan finished in 6th or 7th place for a best actor nod in Just Mercy or Creed or 25th place (see also Greta Gerwig & Little Women). Was it "bad luck" or a clear case of systematic bias?

The good thing about the variable number of nominees is that it provided a way to reward films that almost made the top 5. By having a fixed group of 10 you're now introducing a new source of randomness concerning who gets and who is excluded from the last 2 slots.

/r/boxoffice Thread Parent Link - variety.com