Winning the office Oscar pool just got a little tougher. In a revolutionary change to Hollywood's biggest night, there will be 10 Best Picture nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards instead of the traditional five.

The news comes in a year when Pittsburghers could have a couple of horses in the race: "The Road," the adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel filmed largely here, and musical "Nine," directed by onetime Pittsburgher Rob Marshall.

It's a throwback to Oscar's rich past, particularly 1939 when the 10 nominees were: winner "Gone With the Wind" along with "Dark Victory," "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," "Love Affair," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Ninotchka," "Of Mice and Men," "Stagecoach," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Wuthering Heights."

"After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year," Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said today at a press conference in Beverly Hills.

"The final outcome, of course, will be the same -- one Best Picture winner -- but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009."

In Oscar's earliest years, when the honors were handed out at small banquets, the Best Picture contenders numbered more than five. For nine years, there were 10 nominees.

The 16th Academy Awards (1943) was the last year to include a field of that size; "Casablanca" was named Best Picture. In 1931-32, there were eight nominees and in 1934 and 1935 there were 12 nominees.

"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," commented Ganis. "I can't wait to see what that list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February."

Nominations will be announced Feb. 2,and the ceremony will be March 7, 2010 at the Kodak Theatre. As usual, it will air live on ABC.