347 titles are eligible for Best Picture this year. More films than that are released each year theatrically but not every title bothers with paperwork or with playing one week in Los Angeles (to become eligibile) The annual list always contains a few curiousities...
There's always something we've never heard of for example -- have you heard of Aickarakkonathe Bhishaguranmaar or Return to Seattle?
Did you know that Killer Bees was a sports documentary and not a B horror movie? Or that Netflix apparently four-walled a theater for Alex Strangelove but not for To All the Boys I've Loved Before? Did you know that the upcoming Keanu Reeves flick Replicas had a qualifying release for some reason even though its a B sci-fi picture heading for a January release? Somehow The Children Act is eligible despite a DirectTV release (that we understood to be before its theatrical release). Zama is also eligible which is interesting. It was Argentina's Oscar submission last year for foreign film but since it wasn't nominated it's eligible for everything this year since it was theatrically released during this calendar year. Them's the rules with Foreign Film (that's how City of God was eligible for its surprise nominations in its year) but a lot of foreign titles that miss the year they're "submitted" don't bother with eligibility the next year even if they're released theatrically and technically could.
Aren't you relieved to know that Tag and Hell Fest are both eligible for Best Picture?
Some titles we noticed were missing from the list that supposedly or did open in theaters this year: 1985, Saturday Church, How to Talk to Girls at Parties, Western, Blame, The Endless, Kings, Mary Shelley, Good Manners. You can see the whole list here.