Image (C) Getty
Despite the continued rise of mobile entertainment, on-demand viewing, and shrinking attention spans, people still love going to the movies.
But if there's one thing people like doing even more than going to the movies, it's talking about the movies.
And that's why "awards season" has turned into a bit of a cottage industry for gossipers and prognosticators alike. Well, we're smack in the middle of it now, what with the very liquid Golden Globes earlier in the week followed now by Thursday's Oscar nominations.
Most attention gets focused on the Academy Awards themselves, and that'll certainly be the case come March.
But for now, let's give some love to the actual nomination process, and peek at some of the records that could fall or be extended Thursday.
Definites
Two records are almost sure to come down.
Well, "come down" isn't the proper terminology, because they'll just be broken by the current record holders themselves. And "sure" isn't proper either, I guess, because you just never know with the Academy.
But Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine" is set to earn the actor/director his 16th nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His existing 15 are already the most ever, having resulted in three wins and a second record for the oldest winner of the award, at 76 for 2011's "Midnight in Paris."
And when it comes to guessing who holds any acting awards record, you could do worse than just picking Meryl Streep and hoping you're right. In the case of the most nominations for acting, you would indeed be correct. She already owns the record for most total nominations for acting categories with 17 (14 leading, 3 supporting). She's expected to add to her total with a Best Actress nom for "August: Osage County." And her lead is commanding, with Jack Nicholson's 12 total nominations the second-most.
Close But Not Quite
We're seemingly in the middle of an age extremism era for the Oscars, after we saw both the oldest- and youngest-ever female nominees for lead acting categories get nominated last year (as seen below, 9-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis for "Beasts of the Southern Wild ," and Emannuelle Riva, 85, for "Amour," eventually lost to The Girl on Fire).
That won't continue this year, but two likely nominees are to come close.
Bruce Dern is a shoo-in to earn a nomination for Best Actor after starring in "Nebraska." The 77-year-old would fall just behind 79-year-old Richard Farnsworth's nomination for "The Straight Story" in 1999.
Meanwhile, on the ladies side, should June Squibb earn a Supporting Actress nomination for starring alongside Dern, the 84-year-old would place third-oldest for the category, behind 87-year-old Gloria Stuart ("Titanic") and 85-year-old Ruby Dee ("American Gangster").
Tuck this away, though: if either Dern or Squibb were to go on to win the statue, they would be the oldest-ever winners in their respective categories.
Long Shot
"Titanic" and "All About Eve" jointly hold the record for most nominated film, with 14 apiece in 1997 and 1950, respectively. Most pundits are expecting "12 Years a Slave" to lead the nominations this year, but to fall just a bit shy, at around 12, followed by "Gravity" cleaning up technical awards to finish right behind.
From the expected to the surprises, we'll find it all out Thursday morning!
