Those with the least first-place votes are dropped, and their votes given to the next highest-ranked nominees. This continues until one movie has 50 percent plus one vote.
It has been a long awards season – extended by the Sochi Winter Olympics, which bumped the Oscars from February into March.
And it has also been among the most gruelling, partly due to the bumper crop of films vying for glory.
Topping nominations are “American Hustle” and Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity,” with 10 nods apiece, followed by “12 Years a Slave,” a true story of a free black man sold into slavery, with nine.
Cuaron is the frontrunner for the best director prize, and his star Sandra Bullock earned high praise for her work in the spectacular space drama, prompting some to suggest she could cause an upset in the best actress race.
But Australia’s Blanchett remains the firm favourite in that category, despite a strong field also containing Meryl Streep (“August: Osage County”), Judi Dench (“Philomena”) and Amy Adams (“American Hustle”).
The star-studded Oscars broadcast will feature performances by Irish rockers U2, playing their nominated song from “Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom,” and a first Oscars turn by veteran Bette Midler.
Sunday night’s show will be preceded by the usual fashion extravaganza on the red carpet, as Tinseltown’s finest parade along Hollywood Boulevard and into the Dolby Theatre.
Organizers hope rain doesn’t affect the parade – they were still scrambling Saturday to get everything in place amid a steady downpour, 24 hours before the curtain goes up.
A see-through tent covers the whole runway, and the carpet itself had a layer of plastic on it, but there was little disguising that rain had got through, with workers constantly mopping up.
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