In considering this year's Oscar outlook, it's essential to take into consideration the effect on this year's nominations of the lack of viewing time resulting from the Academy's truncated Oscar voting schedule. The shorter nominating season will also make it harder for titles to be seen that under-performed at the holiday boxoffice or that failed to wow the critics. Most of the films that the DGA and PGA honored with nominations opened months ago, which means that guild members (and Academy members, too) had plenty of time to see them at screenings or premieres.

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