'Blind Side' and 'Hurt Locker' producers get A-O.K. from Academy

The producers of "The Blind Side" and "The Hurt Locker" can now breathe easy.  Everyone gets a shot at Oscar.

Credit: Warner Bros.

Smartly avoiding unneeded controversy, the Acadmey of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences approved the producing credits for Best Picture nominees "The Hurt Locker" and "The Blind Side."

Academy rules state that only three names be associated with each Best Picture nominee after the honor was taken advantage of by "Shakespeare In Love's" five winning producers in 1999.

A statement from AMPAS read, "Academy rules state that normally no more than three producers may be named as nominees in the Best Picture category. However, the rules allow for an additional producer to be named under extraordinary circumstances. In finding that all of the producers of 'The Hurt Locker' had fully functioned as genuine producers of the film, the committee chose to exercise the 'extraordinary circumstances' provision of the rules."

“The Blind Side” – Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson, producers.
“The Hurt Locker” – Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro, producers.

There had been some concern that Chartier wouldn't be recognized as he was "assumed" to be just a financial contributor, but the filmmakers were correctly able to prove how much he brought to the critically acclaimed picture.

It's a bit unclear why credits for "The Blind Side" weren't final nomination morning, but its obviously a sigh of relief for the creators behind the Alcon and Warner Bros. blockbuster.

Now, both films can have all their principals and place and just worry if they're going to win or not.  As it should be.