Ebert on the Academy's change

Here's what Ebert thought:

Thinking it through, I suspect (1) more indie films will be nominated than the Academy expects; but (2) that the larger field will fragment the vote, so that the Best Picture winner will be a major studio picture. But it's almost always like that anyway. The most visible smaller pictures that won were "Chariots of Fire" (1981), "Annie Hall" (1977) and "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008).

The slumdog may have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Know what? In a field of ten, I think it would have been the winner.