Will The Academy Awards Move To January?

The Academy Awards have usually taken place sometime between the last weekend of February and the last week of March. Deadline is reporting that the possibility of moving up the 2011 Oscar Ceremony to sometime in January was discussed at Tuesday night's Board of Governors meeting of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

In the 82 year history of the award show, the Oscars have never taken place in January. The move is smart as it would move the Oscars before the other important award shows of the season: The SAG awards on January 30th and the BAFTA awards February 13th, and if they set it in early January, it could even beat the Golden Globes to the punch. The move would also drastically reduce the amount of time for awards campaigning and would also effect how the studios time the release of their award-caliber films.

How would Academy members see all of the late December releases in time to vote? And would the studios be willing to send out early screeners?