Surprisingly, the work put into transforming Helen Mirren into Queen Elizabeth II was left off the makeup bake-off today, leaving us with an open slot in the eventual list of nominees. I expect that slot to be filled quite easily by "Pan's Labyrinth."

Here's the release (by way of Oscarwatch):

“Apocalypto”
“Click”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
“The Prestige”
“The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause”
“X-Men The Last Stand”

On Saturday, January 20, the Academy’s Makeup Award Nominating Committee will view ten minutes of excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate three films for Oscar consideration.

Nominations for the 79th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, at 5:30 a.m. PST in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2006 will be presented on Sunday, February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST), beginning with a half-hour arrivals segment, “The Road to the Oscars®.”

FYI, I'll be updating the predictions sidebar throughout the week as the guilds continue to chime in, but I'll be leaving the chart update until Monday as usual.