The Daily Dish: June 25

- Actress Farrah Fawcett dies at 62 Tributes poured in from across the world after the actress passed away from cancer earlier this afternoon in California. Her longtime companion, actor Ryan O’Neal, released this statement earlier today: "After a long and brave battle with cancer, our beloved Farrah has passed away. Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world." Ex-husband Lee Majors said simply, “She was an angel on Earth and now an angel forever.” Robert Duvall, her director and co-star in The Apostle, spoke to their experience together: "Farrah had an outstanding talent, better than most feature film actresses that I've seen. She was great to work with and will be missed." Find out more about her death and read additional comments from friends and family here

- Transformers sets Wednesday record I’d say no one saw this coming, but I’d be lying. Initial box office reports are predicting that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen pulled in a record take for a Wednesday film opening. Early estimates place the US earning at around $60.6 million for just the one day. The previous record was held by the 2007 release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which opened with $44.2 million in receipts. In addition, it looks as if Transformers’ total take places it behind only The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3 on a list of single-day revenue blockbusters, although both Knight and Spider-Man saw traditional Friday release dates. Not too shabby, Optimus Prime, not too shabby.

- Oscars Best Picture category doubles in size! AMPAS President Sid Ganis made the interesting announcement at a press conference in Los Angeles yesterday. Starting next year, the ultimate Hollywood prize will have ten contenders instead of the more recent tradition of five nominees. Ganis hopes this move will open up the field to more films worthy of the honour, saying, “we nominated five [last year], but there were many other great films.” While this might seem like a radical change from a group steeped in tradition it is actually not without precedent. After the Awards inception in 1927, it was actually quite common to have greater than five films in contention for Best Picture. In 1939 alone there were ten nominees including Gone With the Wind, which won, The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Wuthering Heights, Love Affair, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Of Mice and Men, Dark Victory and Ninotchka. Ganis said the broader field also might make room for films which typically do not fare well at the Oscars. "Everybody says the academy will never nominate a comedy," Ganis said. "Well, maybe we will." While the move might be too late to honour The Dark Knight, let’s hope it helps bring recognition to other equally worthy films. Definitely an interesting maneuver – stay tuned to see if it pays off!