Could the Oscars Move to January?

Audiences are more than used to films fighting for their attention and, come award season, a shiny trophy to add to their list of accomplishments. But now it looks like the award shows themselves are ready to put up their dukes.

According to a Deadline exclusive, the Academy Awards, traditionally held in March of every year, is looking to move to January -- the cold, barrenless month that's usually reserved for the Super Bowl and, for nearly 40 years, the Golden Globes.

So what's with the change of heart and the need to push the Oscars on audiences so early in the year? The answer comes down to redundancy. By the time the Oscars roll around in March, audiences have already sat through -- or even ignored -- the Golden Globes, the SAG awards, and the BAFTA awards. With the Academy's Board of Governors facing the notion of becoming obsolete in the face of today's gotta-have-it-now Internet immediacy, they're scrambling to make sure that Academy Awards remain the final say in movie honors and that they happen in a  more timely manner.

As an unnamed studio head explained to Deadline, "The awards season is too long currently. This will shorten and reduce the amount of campaigning. Also, it will make the Oscars the definitive awards show again. The Globes can't move a lot earlier as all the movies wouldn't be released yet."

However, the advantages garnered by moving the Oscars up -- more viewers, higher ratings, higher percieved importance -- may be outweighed by how it could negatively impact the awards themselves. As some already know, movies are nominated by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) based upon both the movies they've seen in the theater and the free screeners they receive from studios. In moving the date of the Oscars up, Academy members would have less time in which to catch up on last year's films for the second-round of voting that determines the winners.

This could mean more uninformed votes that don't actually represent the opinions of audiences or the reality of what film was better. Then again, the Oscars are sort of already known for blunders like that; remember that time Crash beat Brokeback Mountain?