Is the AFI’s greatest film of all-time about to change?

AFI Overhauls Top 100 for CBS
When the American Film Institute last ranked its top films, “Citizen Kane,” “Casablanca” and “The Godfather” topped the list. But that was a decade ago, before “Napoleon Dynamite,” “White Chicks” and several key films starring Rob Schneider. With that in mind, the AFI is ready to issue a new Top 100, in a badly named CBS special titled “AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies — 10th Anniversary Edition.”
The CBS telecast will air in June after a panel of 1500 members of the Hollywood community (including filmmakers, actors and critics/historians) make their picks from the ballot of 400 nominated movies.
In order to update the list, the AFI has added 44 films from the past decade to the list of potential honorees. That group of 44 includes best picture Oscar winners like “Titanic,” “American Beauty” and “Crash,” as well as marginally quirkier entries like “Rushmore,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.” All three “Lord of the Rings” films, “Shrek,” “Spider-Man 2” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” are also possibilities, if the panel likes blockbusters.
This won’t just be a one-time refresh for the AFI list. The group hopes to add and subtract films every 10 years “to mark changing cultural perspectives.”
“AFI has created the most comprehensibe and credible examination of excellence in American film with the ‘AFI’s 100 Years…’ series,” says AFI President and CEO Jean Picker Firstenberg. “And, whether you agree with these lists or not, they have a sparked a 10-year conversation on what makes a great movie and why. We are excited to ignite this conversation once again, this year and every 10 to come. Let the debate begin!”