Sport and Cinema.com

And the winner is… that popular phrase is something that remains to be seen after Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Presdient Sid Ganis announced at a press conference last week, the board’s decision to expand the number of films nominated in the Best Picture category from five to ten.

For the third time in four years, Shaquille O’Neal will be playing for a different team. This one happens to have the league’s MVP and best record- LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

According to reports from the Los Angeles Times in a very unusual occurrence, Sony has stopped production on the baseball drama based on Michael Lewis’ 2003 bestseller.

The project, just days from the start of shooting, is largely a reflection of current economic conditions as similar adult dramas like “The International” and “State of Play” underperformed at the box office, but creative differences also played a role.

In what has to rank as the biggest upset in sports since…Calvin Borel rode Mine That Bird to a Kentucky Derby win at 50-1 odds last month, the much-maligned Americans, who looked terrible just a few days ago in a loss to Brazil, stunned all of soccer by defeating the number one team in the world, Spain, 2-0.

There have been relatively few movies using tennis as a backdrop but in this 2004 film, now out on DVD, the filmmakers of this romantic comedy used perhaps the sport’s most iconic event to tell their story.

Peter Colt (Paul Bettany) once ranked among the Top 20 in the world, has slipped to 119th and is heading into his last Wimbledon tournament and venturing out of a pro playing career when he runs into Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten ), a rising star and somewhat bad girl of the ladies tour.

With the news that defending champion Rafael Nadal had to withdraw due to tendonitis in his knees, this year’s Wimbledon opens up the men’s singles a bit.

The grass court grand slam tournament which begins tomorrow will definitely have a different spin with the brilliant Spaniard out.

As part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 film series, filmmaker Frank Marshall (“Bourne Ultimatum”, “Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Seabiscuit”) will direct a documentary that looks at the Right To Play organization which helps bring sports to children in poverty-stricken and war-torn parts of the world.

The Brazilian team showed they play in a different league in beating the United States with ease, 3-0, at the Confederation Cup last night in Pretoria, South Africa.

Golf’s second major of the season and arguably the most demanding and challenging of the Grand Slam quartet gets underway this morning at Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, New York on Long Island where Tiger Woods, who won this tournament at Bethpage in 2002, will be looking to take home his fourth career and second straight U.S. Open crown.

Beginning tomorrow and running for a week and a half more than 200 films from 30 countries, including sneak previews from major studios and summer specialty releases will be presented in some of the finest theaters in Los Angeles.

Major releases debuting at the festival are “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” from Michael Bay and Johnny Depp starring as the Depression-era outlaw John Dillinger in “Public Enemies”.