The Oscars will be held in February again!

February 27, 2011 to be exact, according to this in The Hollywood Reporter:

There are only 48 weeks left until the 83rd Annual Academy Awards.

While the Oscars this year took place on the first Sunday in March to avoid going head-to-head with the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, next year's Oscar schedule, released Thursday, will culminate with the awards showing returning to the last Sunday in February, a spot on the calendar that it has occupied since 2004. That will effectively shorten awards season by at least a week.

The Academy has slotted Feb. 27 for its next Oscarcast.

The deadline for nomination ballots is Jan. 14; the nominations will be announced Jan. 25; and final ballots will be due Feb. 22.

The ceremony will once again take place at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland and be broadcast by ABC.

Separately, the Producers Guild of America also set dates for its 22nd annual Producers Guild Awards, which will take place on Saturday, Jan. 22.

The 2011 calendar is quickly filling up. The Golden Globe Awards have already claimed Sunday, Jan. 16. The DGA Awards will be held on Saturday, Jan. 29, and the SAG Awards are set for Sunday, Jan. 30.

-Thoughts?

Kathryn Bigelow takes home top honors with the Directors Guild of America...

...and she needs to start preparing an Oscar acceptance speech.

-Thoughts?

The 62nd Annual DGA Awards...

...are being announced at the current moment, and as soon as the winners are let loose, we'll have them for you. So far, all we know is that Louie Psihoyo and The Cove won for Documentary.

Update- Kathryn Bigelow takes the big prize for The Hurt Locker!

-Thoughts?

DGA Predictions

Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker

alternate: Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds

What are yours?

The DGA announce their documentary nominees...

...which are:

SACHA GERVASI
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
(Metal On Metal Productions)

MAI ISKANDER
Garbage Dreams
(Iskander Films, Inc.)

ROBERT KENNER
Food, Inc.
(Robert Kenner Films)

LOUIE PSIHOYOS
The Cove
(Oceanic Preservation Society and Roadside Attractions)

GEOFFREY SMITH
The English Surgeon
(Eyeline Films)

AGNES VARDA
The Beaches of Agnes
(Cine-Tamaris, Paris)

-Thoughts?

Help Jason Reitman decide who to vote for on his DGA ballot...

...not that it takes a rocket scientist to figure out who he's voting for. He posted this on his Twitter account (here), and I couldn't resist posting it here.
-Who would you vote for if you had a ballot?

The DGA Nominees are announced!

Behold:

James Cameron, “Avatar”
Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”
Lee Daniels, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”

-Thoughts on the selections?

Today's update to The Awards Circuit features new Staff Predictions and another great article by John Foote!

Yes, there's a lot brewing here at The Awards Circuit. First off, we've got updated staff predictions for you (featuring the first by new staff writers John Foote and Jackson Truax). Be sure to check them out here and take some heat off of Clayton by telling us what we did right and what we might have done wrong! (Take note, these were submitted before the recent changes to Original Score and Visual Effects, so if something is there that isn't eligible, it's not ignorance, just bad timing on our part)
We also have the aforementioned new article from the man who needs no introduction, John Foote, this time tackling the topic that is Meryl Streep. It's a wonderful read that can be found here, so check it out and let us know what you think.
In case you missed it, we also have an article on the upcoming DGA's here, so also check that out and let us know who you think might get in!
-Thoughts on the staff predictions, new article by John Foote, and the DGA article?

New Predictions everywhere and an article on what the DGA might do highlight the latest updates to The Awards Circuit!

Yes, there's some very interesting new stuff to take note of. We start with new predictions in all categories. Start with Best Picture here and go all the way to Clayton's Golden Globe predictions here. Be sure to let us know how his predictions stack up with your own!
We also have a prediction/analysis article on the upcoming Director's Guild awards nominations. That article can be found here, so check it out and let us know what you think.
Finally, we're continuing to test out the New Blog, so try it out here and tell us which you prefer...
-Thoughts on the new predictions, article, and blog?

The DGA to honor Norman Jewison...

Here's the story from Variety:

Norman Jewison has been selected as the recipient of the lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of America.

Jewison will receive the honor at the 62nd Annual DGA Awards on Jan. 30 at the Century Plaza.

"He is an incredible filmmaker whose calm, affable manner belies a ferocious creative fire within," said DGA president Taylor Hackford. "There are very few filmmakers whose body of work moves so fluidly between romantic comedy and political thriller, musical and satire, with an ease and an eloquence that few could hope to match."

The DGA Lifetime winner is selected by the present and past presidents. Jewison is the 33rd recipient and joins Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and most recently, Clint Eastwood in 2006.

Jewison has been nominated for three DGA Awards and for four Oscars and his films have received a dozen Academy Awards. In 1999, Jewison received the Irving Thalberg Award.

Jewison began his career in show business as an actor on stage and radio in Canada. His film director debut came with the 1962 comedy "40 Pounds of Trouble" and he received his first DGA nom for “The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming” four years later.

He received another DGA nomination and his first Oscar nom for “In the Heat of the Night.” Jewison’s third DGA nod came for "A Soldier’s Story" while his additional Oscar noms were for “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Moonstruck.”

Jewison and his Yorktown Prods. produced Hal Ashby’s first film, “The Landlord,” and the television series “Picture Windows.” He founded the Canadian Film Centre in 1986 and was made a Companion to The Order of Canada in 1992.

In 2004, his autobiography “This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me” was published.

-Congrats!

Today's News: The DGA Awards set a date, a potential sequel to Hancock hires some writers, and more...

In the news:

January 30th will be the date for the DGA Awards, with ballots being mailed out on December 1st.

It appears that there will be a sequel to Hancock., and these guys will be writing it.

The adaptation of Bioshock is going forward, and the director of 28 Weeks Later will now be at the helm, replacing Gore Verbinski.

The next writing and directing gig for Paul Haggis adds both Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks to the cast, a remake of a French film.

David Gordon Green's star studded fantasy comedy has added Justin Theroux to the cast, as the villain.

Finally, for info on a pseudo indie film that will be using James Cameron's Avatar technology, go here for the story.

-Thoughts?

Danny Boyle wins the DGA!

In the last day or two it seemed like some people were readying themselves for an upset, but it was not to be, as Boyle, along with Ari Folman's Documentary win for Waltz with Bashir, were the events of the night, as The Hollywood Reporter, well...reports:

The Little Movie That Could can do no wrong. Danny Boyle has just been handed the DGA Award for outstanding directorial achievement in feature film for "Slumdog Millionaire."Boyle walked away with the honor Saturday night during the DGA's annual awards ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel. David Fincher ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"), Gus Van Sant ("Milk"), Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight") and Ron Howard ("Frost/Nixon"), who won the award in 1995 and 2001, also were nominated.It was Boyle's first DGA nomination.It's been a miracle year for Boyle, the 52-year-old British director of "Shallow Grave," "Trainspotting," "A Life Less Ordinary," "The Beach," "28 Days Later…," "Millions" and "Sunshine." He's already been named the year's best director by several critics groups and took the top director's prize at the Golden Globes."Slumdog" almost didn't make it into theaters when Warner Independent folded, until audiences at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals responded fervently to its heartwarming story of a Mumbai street orphan with a shot at 20 million rupees. Fox Searchlight subsequently picked up and distributed the film, which has now grossed more than $75 million worldwide and earned 10 Oscar nominations.The DGA Award for feature film has traditionally been an excellent predictor of the Oscar race. Only six times since 1948, when the guild began giving out awards, has the DGA Award gone to a director who didn't then win the Oscar. Those awards will be handed out Feb. 22.Recent winners of the DGA Award are Joel and Ethan Coen in 2007, for "No Country for Old Men"; Martin Scorsese in 2006, for "The Departed"; Ang Lee in 2005, for "Brokeback Mountain"; and Clint Eastwood in 2004, for "Million Dollar Baby."

-Congrats, now make room for your Oscar Danny.

DGA Nominations!

Penn and Gilroy upset Burton and Wright; while the Coens, PTA and Schnabel show up as expected.

Directors Guild of America Nominees

Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Sean Penn, Into the Wild
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly