A few years ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences changed the way that films were nominated for Oscars, and the way they win. The system they use now is particularly convoluted. This video gives a short overview of how the winner of the Best Picture award is chosen, but the formula for the nominations is explained at Vox. Good luck understanding it. The upshot is that there are fewer and fewer surprises in both the Oscar nominees and the winners.
If you are connected with one of the 305 films that came out in 2015 that were eligible for the process, the precise way that 6,291 Academy members fill out their nominations ballot can spell out how your career in Hollywood progresses. And when you think about exactly how many movies each member actually saw, how likely they are to bother voting, and how much influence their friends in the business have, it all becomes quite a stressful experience. -via Daily of the Day