Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

I would think that precursors having somewhat less influence should produce more interesting results.

The "rationale" for this change is the most bizarre ever -- allowing voters more time to see the films once they're nominated...but shrinking the window between release of a lot of those films and nominations to practically zilch. The Academy SERIOUSLY thinks voters are going to get to the onslaught of December releases before January 3rd?! (Just yesterday, Les Mis moved its release date to later in December.)

I can only see this increasing the number of nominees like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Cruz in Nine, Tucci in The Lovely Bones, etc. Voters are going to have less time to actually form individual opinions of the movies, because they won't be allowed to sit with these movies for more than a couple days before voting...with diminished chance for support to build around those lower-profile late releases (like A Separation or Blue Valentine). So, basically, the Oscar nominees are probably going to get closer to the Broadcast nominees, with more Internet narratives approved by voters who, let's face it, might not even SEE all of these candidates -- it's going to be a lot easier for those films that are widely expected to do well to succeed in this climate, regardless of quality.

The real reason for this change seems clear: have a longer window to sell movies to the public as "Oscar nominees." And I get that the Oscars are first and foremost a marketing tool...but at this point, this organization just looks like it's throwing mud toward a wall and hoping some of it will stick.

DGA is announcing January 8th and PGA January 3rd, the day oscar nominations ballot polls close

This is good because actually it will be harder to predict the Oscar nominees

From Oscar.org, the horse's mouth:

Key Dates Announced for 85th Academy Awards®
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced key dates for the 85th Academy Awards season.

The key dates are:

Friday, November 30, 2012: Official Screen Credits due
Saturday, December 1, 2012: Governors Awards presentation
Monday, December 17, 2012: Nominations voting begins
Thursday, January 3, 2013: Nominations voting ends 5 p.m. PT
Thursday, January 10, 2013: Nominations announced 5:30 a.m. PT, Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater
Monday, February 4, 2013: Nominees Luncheon
Friday, February 8, 2013: Final voting begins
Saturday, February 9, 2013: Scientific and Technical Awards presentation
Tuesday, February 19, 2013: Final voting ends 5 p.m. PT
Sunday, February 24, 2013: 85th Academy Awards presentation

In an effort to provide members and the public a longer period of time to see the nominated films, the Academy will reveal the 85th Academy Awards nominations on January 10, five days earlier than previously announced.

In addition, this will be the first time the Academy will provide its membership the opportunity to vote electronically. Together with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Everyone Counts, the Academy has been developing an electronic voting process for more than a year. The Academy conducted extensive research and held numerous focus groups with its members to ensure a smooth transition and widespread adoption.

The Academy will make several voting resources available to members during the transition, including the installation of assisted voting stations in Los Angeles, New York and London, a 24-hour telephone help line during voting periods, and paper ballots.

In the pre-Nominations phase, members will continue to vote via paper ballot in eight categories due to specialized screening schedules and processes. Those categories are Animated Feature Film, Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Hairstyling and Visual Effects.

The Academy Awards ceremony will be held at The Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network. A 90-minute red carpet show will immediately precede the broadcast.

The Oscar Nominations Will Now Precede the Golden Globes

13 hours ago | Vulture | See recent Vulture news »

Awards season upheaval! You don't usually get the Oscar nominations until the end of January — which gives the Golden Globes, airing earlier in the month, a small little window all to itself — but the Academy just shifted the nominations date to January 10, meaning they'll now come three days before the Globes ceremony. The rationale, apparently, is to provide Oscar voters with more time to see the nominated films ... but if the move happens to remix the typically predictable awards season corridor, bonus! »