Movies: 3-6-3, That's The Magic number (for a Best Picture Nom)

-The Wrap

We now know how many Academy members are eligible to vote for the upcoming Oscars: 7,258.

And because the Academy’s newly-compiled branch count tells us the number of voters, we can also figure out how many votes it’ll take to get a nomination in most of the 24 categories — which ranges from a high of 363 (Best Picture) to a low of 22 (Best Costume Design).

The Academy’s preferential system of counting nomination votes, coupled with rules that limit voting in most categories to the members of the appropriate AMPAS branch, means that you can land a nomination with less than 100 votes everywhere except Best Picture and the four acting categories.

203 for the Acting Categories. 363 for Best Picture.

Under the Oscars preferential system, a voter typically lists his or her top five choices in order of preference — but the vote only goes to the film ranked first on each ballot, unless that film has already secured a nomination or been eliminated from contention.

In that case, the ballot will count for the voter’s second choice, or for the highest-ranked film on the ballot that’s still in the running.

Nomination voting begins on Friday, January 5, and closes one week later, on January 12. Nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 23.