The polls are officially open. Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will be racing to see as many of this year’s films before they vote for the 2013 Oscars. Voting began on Friday.
The 6,000-plus members of the Academy only have two weeks to get their ballots in, notes Variety. Voting closes on Jan. 8 at 5 p.m. PT. The nominees will be announced the following week on Thursday, Jan. 16.
Final voting starts on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14 and wraps up on Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. PT. The winners are announced during the ceremony on March 2, which will air live on ABC. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres is hosting the awards.
Academy votes have a lot of movie watching to do if they haven’t been seeing them throughout the year. Earlier this month, the Academy announced that a whopping 289 films are eligible for the Best Picture award. That field has to be whittled down to a group of nine to 10.
You can check out our predictions for Best Actor and Best Actress. We also looked at the Top 10 films that will likely be in the running.
Earlier this year, the Academy named Ben Affleck’s Argo the Best Picture of 2012.
image: ABC