The Academy Awards will double the number of Best Picture nominees from five to ten at next year’s 2010 Oscars.

In a press statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis announced that the upcoming Oscars will feature ten Best Picture nominees, rather than five.

“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,” said Ganis. “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.”

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, with film’s biggest night scheduled to air live Sunday, March 7 on ABC.