At Last, a Studio Smackdown!

6:00 AM PST 11/6/2012 by Pamela McClintock

It's been a six-year drought since a major studio has taken best picture. Now, every single one has a serious contender prepared to go head-to-head with Harvey Weinstein and indie Hollywood.

For decades, Hollywood studios had dominion over the best picture Oscar race. Even their more commercial titles -- Jaws and Star Wars, Fatal Attraction and Working Girl -- landed in the coveted category. Then, beginning in the mid-'80s, the Golden Age of independent film -- eventually epitomized by Harvey Weinstein, whose company has won the past two best-picture trophies for The King's Speech and The Artist -- arrived. And the studios were upstaged.