Argo Or Lincoln? Oscar Voting Closes Amidst Multi-Million Spending Campaigns

Yesterday evening (Feb 19) the voting for the 85th Annual Academy Awards came to a close, with over 5,800 movie insiders and members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences casting their vote on the 24 Oscar categories since February 8 until 5 pm PST last night.

This year marked the first time in the 85-year history of the Oscars that Academy members have been able to go online to cast their vote, with the votes heading over to private accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, who tally up the votes and deliver the golden envelopes on February 24. This year also saw another first, in that the two main contenders for Best Picture, Lincoln and Argo, have had up to $10 million spent on them in the past weeks in a bid to push for their place of the top prize.

The Los Angeles Times estimated that Warner Bros., the studio behind Argo, and Walt Disney Co, which is distributing Lincoln, have gone well into eight-figures over the past few weeks as they seek out Oscar glory. Having won the top prize at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards, Ben Affleck's Iranian hostage drama is looking like the top contender for the night's big prize, but the film is by no means out of the woods just yet as Lincoln is proving to be a tightly matched contender for the top prize. And with 12 nominations in total, it's also the film with the most nods from the Academy.

The race for Best Picture couldn't be tighter, but with Affleck absent from the Best Director category it looks like Lincoln's Steven Spielberg is the favourite for that award. As for Daniel Day-Lewis as Best Actor, that award is already in the bag. Can Lincoln scoop all three? You'll have to tune in on the 24th to find out.

Watch the trailer for Lincoln below: