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This week marks the official beginning of Oscar season. Sure the jockeying and campaigning has already begun, but it isn’t until the first precursor awards are handed out by various critics groups that things start rolling. Before I get into the bulk of the article, please note that although my calendar posted two weeks ago listed the New York Film Critics Circle as announcing today, because of some last minute screening scheduling, they pushed back their awards voting to Tuesday, November 29.

This year promises a lot of interesting dynamics. No single film has emerged as a clear frontrunner for the awards. By this time last year, the talk was whether it would be The King’s Speech or The Social Network. At least half a dozen films have the potential of winning at the Kodiak in February, and the critics may finally have some influence on the proceedings (their sweeping darling Social Network lost to King’s Speech last year).

In addition to the crystal ball clarifications that will come up, 9 precursor groups celebrate a milestone anniversary this year (with 10 or more years). Each of the following groups have been handing out awards for the specified number of years.

50 Years

American Cinema Editors

45 Years

National Society of Film Critics

25 Years

American Society of Cinematographers

15 Years

Art Directors Guild
Online Film & Television Association
San Diego Film Critics Society

10 Years

American Film Institute

Phoenix Film Critics

Let’s congratulate these fine groups for their years of service.

This week, my own coverage of precursors begins and although I made mention of this two weeks ago when I posted my calendar, I thought I’d give you some more information about what else you can expect as well as a reiteration of what I said then.

After months of painstaking work rebuilding the long absent precursor section, I am ready to reveal one set of precursors. I have finalized the new pages for the various Hollywood guilds and will be revealing them as each of those organizations announce their nominees. While I still have organizations (like the Golden Globes) and film critics groups still to go (and a long way from completing), I hope you will enjoy the updated precursor section as it rolls out.

In addition to posting the new precursor pages for the guilds as they announce, with each precursor announcement, I will include data on the first year each group gave awards, the founding year for the organization and a brief look back at the last five years of the group’s accuracy.

This all begins tomorrow (Tuesday) with the New York Film Critics Circle awards and the Spirit Award nominations. Rounding out the week will be nominations from the Satellite Awards, the National Board of Review and the Producers Guild of America. And then the avalanche begins into December. So, fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.

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