Mark Wahlberg Defends New Oscar Category

Washington DC, [USA] Aug 11 (ANI): Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg has defended the new addition to the Academy Awards, the 'Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film'.

Speaking to Variety, Wahlberg said that had this category been there earlier, he would have possibly won an award.

He also added that films are made for the public to enjoy, and on top, if these films win accolades, it is an icing on the cake.

Wahlberg got nominated twice, once for 'supporting actor' for his 2006 film 'The Departed' and in 2010 as a producer for 'The Fighter'.

"There are a lot of great films out there that happen to be very popular and haven't been recognised that probably deserve the recognition," Wahlberg said.

Earlier this month, 'Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film' was added to the Oscars, which is the first new category since 2001 when the Animated feature was added.

Apart from this, the Oscars would now be telecast for three hours.

Oscars, which is also known as the Academy Awards, are a set of 24 awards for artistic merit in the American film industry, given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

Their aim is to recognise excellence in cinema as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)