85th Academy Awards Makeup and Hairstyling Shortlist

AMPAS announced that seven films remain in competition in this category. On Saturday, January 5, all members of the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films and vote to select three (3) films for final Oscar consideration.

Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Looper
Men in Black 3
Snow White and the Huntsman

Somehow is unexpected that so few films will advance and perhaps most notorious is the absence of Life of Pi, Cloud Atlas, Holy Motors, Dark Shadows and others that had good chances to continue in the race if they qualified for this category.

In other news the Academy released last week the list of the 282 feature films that qualified for the Best Picture category plus the 75 Original Songs and the 104 Original Scores that continue in the race for a nomination. Lists are too long, so if you wish to check them go to the official site.

Nominations voting will open on Monday, December 17 for the 5,856 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This will be the first year the Academy is providing its membership the opportunity to vote electronically. Voting closes on Thursday, January 3, 2013 and as we know, nominations will be announced on January 10, 2013.

Still there is no date for the announcement of the shortlist of 9 films in the foreign-language category, but when considering the above dates, there is a chance that list could be released late December.