Hosts Emma Stone (L) and Seth MacFarlane read the Best Picture nominees at the 85th Academy Awards nominee announcements in Beverly Hills, California January 10, 2013. The Oscars will be presented Sunday February 24. [Photo/Agencies]

'HITS ALL THE NOTES'

The Oscars are given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and voters only rarely split the awards for best picture and best director.

"I think this is a year when we can throw conventional wisdom out of the window," said Pete Hammond, awards columnist for entertainment industry website Deadline.com. "We are dealing in uncharted territory here ... It's like crazy."

Related: Americans pick 'Lincoln', 'Les Miserables' for Oscar glory

"I think you have to look at 'Lincoln' being the conventional favorite, because it hits all the notes, and Spielberg directed it," Hammond told Reuters.

Fandango chief correspondent Dave Karger said "Lincoln" had everything going for it.

"It's done big business, it's done extremely well with high- brow critics, and it has done really well with the average moviegoer. Some people will say it is too talky and too dry but others say it really brought this man to life in a fascinating way," Karger said.

"Lincoln" and "Les Miserables" also emerged as the top pick among Americans for Oscar wins in an Ipsos/Reuters opinion poll released on Wednesday.

Day-Lewis, nominated for his towering performance as Abraham Lincoln, is widely seen as the frontrunner for what would be the British-born actor's record third win in the best actor category.

He will compete with Hugh Jackman, who plays a reformed petty thief in "Les Miserables," Denzel Washington as an alcoholic pilot in "Flight" and first time nominee Bradley Cooper as a bi-polar man in "Silver Linings Playbook".