The Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences has announced that out of 643 films released this year only 289 are eligible to compete at the Academy Awards.
In order to be eligible for 86th annual Academy Awards, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, Dec. 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days. That means that any film that opened in a New York one-week run will not compete for the awards.
The Academy rules also state that a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.
Finally, according to the Academy rules, feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category. Among the films eligible and sure to be nominated for Academy Awards are "12 Years a Slave," "The Wolf of Wall Street," American Hustle," "Nebraska" and "Gravity."
Among the films that opened theatrically but will not qualify include the Tribeca film "What Richard Did" and Gotham nominee "Upstream Color."
The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014, at 8:30 a.m. EST in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
The award ceremony will then be held on Sunday, March 2, 2014 at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center and will be televised live on ABC. The presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
Recent Academy Award winners include "Argo," The Artist," The King's Speech," "The Hurt Locker," Slumdog Millionaire" and "No Country for Old Men."