[(Title)] Oscars to add ‘best popular film’ award, shorten gala.

Organisers of the Oscars are under fire for plummeting ratings and accused of elitism. On Wednesday, they announced the creation of a new category to honor top blockbusters and said they would shorten the ceremony to attract more viewers. "Change is coming to the Oscars,"  tweeted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has traditionally put together the glittering awards gala each year in late February or early March.

“奥斯卡即将改革”，美国电影艺术与科学学会发推表示。该学会每年二月底和三月初都会举办一场荣光闪耀的奥斯卡颁奖典礼。

Earlier in 2018, the 90th Oscars on March 4 lasted nearly four hours, and posted all-time low television ratings with 26.5 million viewers.

今年3月4日举办的第90届奥斯卡颁奖典礼持续了近4个小时，其电视收视率却跌入历史最低谷，仅有2650万观众。

For 2019, organizers are hoping to produce a  "more accessible"  three-hour show  by presenting some of the awards during commercial breaks, Academy President John Bailey and Chief Executive Officer Dawn Hudson told members. Edited excerpts of those presentations will then be shown during the broadcast.

学院院长约翰·贝利和首席执行官达恩·哈德森表示，会组织者希望2019年的颁奖典礼能在广告时间里颁发一部分奖项，以将节目时间缩短为三小时。此外，电视上播出的版本也会事先进行剪辑。

They will also create a new award for  "outstanding achievement in popular film"  – a response to accusations that for the past decade or more, the Academy has honored art house fare only seen by limited audiences.

他们还将为“流行影片的杰出成就”创造一个新的奖项，以此来回应大众对奥斯卡偏心小众电影的质疑。

The Academy did not offer specifics about how the category will be defined.

该学院没有具体说明如何界定这一类别。

The final reform will be to hold the ceremony earlier in the calendar year – in 2020, it will shift to February 9. In 2019, the date already set – February 24 – will be maintained.

最后一个改变是将仪式时间提前：2020年将改为2月9日，而2019年的日期仍为2月24日。

Industry observers have complained that sometimes, the Oscars come nearly two months after the Golden Globes, making Tinseltown's awards season a marathon of gowns, glitz – and stress.

行业观察员抱怨说，有时候，奥斯卡在金球奖颁奖将近两个月后才举行，使得“浮华城（即好莱坞）”的颁奖季节成为一场充满荣耀与焦虑的马拉松。

"We have heard from many of you about improvements needed to keep the Oscars and our Academy relevant in a changing world,"  Bailey and Hudson said in a letter to members, a copy of which was sent to AFP. "The board of governors took this charge seriously."

“很多人跟我们说，在这个不断变化的世界里，奥斯卡需要随之改革，”贝利和哈德森在给会员的一封信中说。"董事会认真对待这个建议"。

But the new measures were immediately met with criticism – with some suggesting the new  "popular film"  would mean critical and box office hits like  "Black Panther"  might be snubbed in the race for the coveted best picture statuette.

但这些新措施立即受到了批评，因为一些人认为新的“流行电影”意味着像“黑豹”这样的票房热门可能会在小金人争夺战中被冷落。

"The last thing that the Academy should now be doing is creating a reactionary new category that is, in effect, the Popular Ghetto,"  said Owen Gleiberman, the chief film critic for Hollywood news outlet Variety.

“奥斯卡协会最不该做的就是创造这么一个与之截然相反的新类别。”好莱坞的主要影评媒体《综艺》杂志的影评家欧文·葛雷博曼说。

"Instead, it should be working to take off its blinders and make more room in the big tent for every movie that comes out. That's how to win viewers back to the Oscars without trashing the essence of what movies are."

“相反，它不该一叶障目，而应给每部获奖影片留出更多的时间，这样做才能在不掺入杂质的情况下赢回观众的心。