The Oscars (and other awards)

Academy Voting Officially Starts Today

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences officially kicked off the nomination balloting which takes place online (and by snail mail for those still in digital denial) through Friday January 8 at 5 PM PT.

Open Road’s Spotlight and 20th Century Fox’s The Martian seem to be the most buzzed (according to pundits) as front-runners for Best Picture in a race that appears to be, at this point just before the January onslaught of awards ceremonies and Guild nominations, wide open, much more so than usual.

Will members go for the maximum of ten nominees in such a split year, or stick to the eight or nine films that made the cut since the rules were tweaked to allow as many as ten, but as few as five contenders? The year-end entries such as The Revenant, Joy, The Big Short and The Hateful Eight have all been burning up the box office in wide or limited runs the past week, so maybe their profile has been raised in the minds of Oscar voters, perhaps like American Sniper was able to do in a late break last year. And then there is the movie that is REALLY shaking up the box office, Star Wars: The Force Awakens which just could bust all the rules for a franchise movie and land a spot. Disney officially launched an Oscar campaign on Christmas Day with a double truck ad in consumer newspapers urging “For Your Consideration”. The acting races also appear to be as tight as ever, particularly in the supporting actor category which has more possibilities that ever, compounded by the fact that Spotlight and The Big Short’s ensemble casts could eat up the lion’s share of slots – or cancel each other out. There are lots of questions still to be answered and today, Academy members, it is finally up to you to sort it all out. Good luck.