At the Academy Awards, most of the awards are granted based on whoever receives the most amount of votes from the voters. However, the process is different for Best Picture.Video above: What makes a film worthy of the Academy Award for best editing?Aside from Best Picture, every award at the Oscars is voted on by members of the Academy. Those with the most number of votes wins. However, for Best Picture, a system is in place — something the Academy deems the “fairest possible” method. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the system “is to ensure that the Best Picture winner is the movie that is the most widely liked by the electorate.”The Academy uses a ranked-choice voting method, called a preferential ballot, to decide the Best Picture winner.Members of the Academy are asked to rank all of the best picture nominees and then PwC, accountants for the Academy, go through all the ballots and create a list for every film that is listed as the best. For example, this year there will be a pile for every vote for “Oppenheimer” for Best Picture and a pile for every “Barbie” Best Picture vote, plus the other six nominated films.Once a film secures over 50% as the Best Picture vote, they are awarded Best Picture at the Oscars, however, this usually does not happen in the first round due to the number of films nominated. After the first round, PwC will take out the smallest pile of No. 1 votes — so if “Barbie” has the least number of Best Picture votes, it will be eliminated. However, to ensure that the voters still have a vote, they will redistribute those ballots with “Barbie” as No. 1 Best Picture and put them toward their second choice. So if someone has “Barbie” as their No. 1 choice but it gets eliminated, and their second-ranked option is “Oppenheimer,” their vote will be redistributed from “Barbie” to the “Oppenheimer” pile.PwC will continue this process until a film’s pile reaches 50% of all the ballots.
At the Academy Awards, most of the awards are granted based on whoever receives the most amount of votes from the voters. However, the process is different for Best Picture.
Video above: What makes a film worthy of the Academy Award for best editing?
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Aside from Best Picture, every award at the Oscars is voted on by members of the Academy. Those with the most number of votes wins.
However, for Best Picture, a system is in place — something the Academy deems the “fairest possible” method. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the system “is to ensure that the Best Picture winner is the movie that is the most widely liked by the electorate.”
The Academy uses a ranked-choice voting method, called a preferential ballot, to decide the Best Picture winner.
Members of the Academy are asked to rank all of the best picture nominees and then PwC, accountants for the Academy, go through all the ballots and create a list for every film that is listed as the best. For example, this year there will be a pile for every vote for “Oppenheimer” for Best Picture and a pile for every “Barbie” Best Picture vote, plus the other six nominated films.
Once a film secures over 50% as the Best Picture vote, they are awarded Best Picture at the Oscars, however, this usually does not happen in the first round due to the number of films nominated.
After the first round, PwC will take out the smallest pile of No. 1 votes — so if “Barbie” has the least number of Best Picture votes, it will be eliminated. However, to ensure that the voters still have a vote, they will redistribute those ballots with “Barbie” as No. 1 Best Picture and put them toward their second choice.
So if someone has “Barbie” as their No. 1 choice but it gets eliminated, and their second-ranked option is “Oppenheimer,” their vote will be redistributed from “Barbie” to the “Oppenheimer” pile.
PwC will continue this process until a film’s pile reaches 50% of all the ballots.
