The Best Visual Effects category is usually one of the few technical Oscar categories that the average viewer can be invested in-- no one has any idea what the difference is between Sound Mixing and Sound Editing, but we all have an opinion on whether the Batmobile in The Dark Knight was more impressive than the Mark 1 armor in Iron Man. Ever since the category was introduced in 1984 only three films have competed for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, despite the immense changes in the industry that CGI has brought and the fact that nearly every hit movie these days features heavy visual effects.

Now the Academy seems to be making up for it-- Variety reports that this year's category will be expanded to five nominees. The visual effects branch is the first to vote on the decision, and it has to go past the Academy's Board of Governors and the Award Rules Committee, but both are expected to fall in line with what the visual effects branch wants. Apparently there was some controversy around the decision, with people concerned about extra nominees-- there are usually four VFX artists nominated per film-- diluting the category. But really, given the huge variety of special effects in films these days, and how much visual effects matter to a film's success, increasing the number of honored films only seems like a good thing.