The number of films that are eligible in 2005 for Best Picture Academy Award was set Wednesday at 311.

This represents a 16.5 percent increase over 2004. Also, the Academy of Arts and Sciences announced in a news release Wednesday that it's the first time in 30 years the number of eligible pictures for the top prize reaches 300.

Members of the Academy will begin voting on Thursday and the announcement of nominees for the 78th Academy Awards is set for January 31, 2006.

The battle this year seams to be between Brokeback Mountain and Munich. We have to see which of the two the Academy finds less controversial. And it's hard to tell since the first one is a love story between two ranch hands-two men, and the second recounts the dramatic story of the secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and assassinate 11 Palestinians believed to have planned the 1972 Munich massacre.

Other movies that might be in the race are: 'Good Night, And Good Luck', 'Walk the Line', 'King Kong', 'Cinderella Man' and 'Match Point'.

The Academy Awards ceremony is obviously a great show in itself and we should add that it is scheduled for March 5, 2006, at Hollywood`s Kodak Theatre.