Because of the failure last year of Terry Press‘s aggressive earlybird Dreamgirls push, “several studios are pulling back on the Oscar hype, according to Variety‘s Anne Thompson.

The late-in-the-game entries, of course, will include There Will Be Blood, Charlie Wilson’s War, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet StreetTim Burton doesn’t make Oscar faves — and The Great Debaters. (There are rumors, Thompson reports, that Debaters will “barely finish” in time for viewing).

I didn’t run this earlier, but despite that dug-in player insisting in a 10.8 posting that Wayne Kramer‘s Crossing Over might possibly be platform-released in December, this isn’t going to happen.