Academy Sets Date for 2013 Oscars

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as set the dates for next year's Oscars ceremony and nominations announcement.

The organization sent the following tweet on Wednesday: "The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Jan. 15, 2013, and the Oscar® telecast will be presented on Feb. 24."

The awards will again be handed out at the theater formerly known as the Kodak at the Hollywood & Highland center in Hollywood.

The announcement keeps the Oscar telecast on the last Sunday of February, which is significant given the rumblings around Hollywood that the Academy might move the event to earlier in the year. But the date of the nominations announcement has been moved up about a week to Jan. 15 from this year's Jan 24.

That puts the nomination announcement just two days after the likely date of the Golden Globes, which could steal some thunder from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's annual kudos. It also shortens the so-called "Phase One" of awards season (pre-nominations) and lengthens the "Phase Two" time frame by about a week.