Mark Wahlberg Defends The Academy's Popular Film Category

Mark Wahlberg defends the Academy's decision to add a is an insult, Wahlberg is among those who see it as an open door.

The Academy Awards show has a history of altering its content since it began in 1929. Over time, categories have been omitted, created, and altered to fit new standards. One case in particular includes the Academy's decision to include up to 10 nominations for the Best Picture award in the 2009 ceremony. This alteration was intended to allow more space for recognition of films - namely popular ones - that were being overlooked on a yearly basis. Now, with the inclusion of a category specifically aimed at popular films, many are raising issue with whether a film's inclusion in such a category will be a disservice to how it is viewed as a work of art.

Wahlberg does not share this concern. In a recent interview with Transformers franchise, to name a few - may even wish the category came a little sooner. "Maybe if they’d had the category before, we’d have won a couple of them,” Wahlberg said. “We’ve had some really commercially successful films that we think certainly warranted that kind of notoriety."

Regardless of whether or not the star would have received a popular film award had the category existed when Ted was released, the fact remains that he has been nominated for two Academy Awards already. In 2007 he was up for the Best ing Actor category for his role in The Fighter, which he starred in and co-produced, was nominated for Best Picture.

With the news of the popular film category still fresh, it will be interesting to see what films end up being nominated and on what basis the Academy will The Other Guys, "I'm a peacock... You gotta let me fly!"