[baseballfanjm]

Well, you know, Mel's movie Braveheart was a May release, and it wasn't THAT big of a hit in the U.S., and it ended up winning Best Picture.

[weegee]

Yes but Mel didn't run around screening Braveheart for hundreds (thousands now?) of people the year before he released the film to the public.

That LA qualifying run is a key requirement for getting an Oscar nomination. There are plenty of films that play NY and LA in late December a month or more in advance of the release to the rest of the nation.