Yesterday, for the second time in two weeks, In Contention’s Kristopher Tapley confessed to being done with 2008 and noted a bunch of anticipated 2009 films. These aren’t necessarily titles he’s looking forward to seeing, though; it’s basically a preliminary jump on next year’s Oscar season. Because apparently this year’s Academy Awards are all but handed out, the winners properly predicted and expected, and now it’s time to think about what will be up for what in 2010. Those titles Tapley lists are Rob Marshall’s Nine, Peter Jackson’s Lovely Bones, Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, Clint Eastwood’s “Mandela“ (formerly The Human Factor), Richard Curtis’ The Boat That Rocked, Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart and the latest from Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life), Steven Soderbergh (The Informant), Paul Greengrass (Green Zone), Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island) and James Cameron (Avatar).

Oh, and then Jeff Wells had to go and hint that Spielberg’s Lincoln is likely to arrive by year’s end. What and who else is being foreseen as nominated this time next year? Check out the links after the jump.

• From Wells’ report, via someone in attendance at a Harvard University panel featuring Lincoln screenwriter Tony Kushner: “Kushner has said ‘the decision will be made on Lincoln next week‘ and that if the green light is given the film will be ‘out by Christmas.’ That’s pretty fast work for a expensive period film that’ll use a lot of CG, no? Even if Spielberg passes on Civil War battle scenes.”
• And here’s a video of that panel, courtesy of Wells.
• And if anyone thinks the Disney deal or Lincoln’s 200th birthday have anything to do with the timeliness of this news, Wells’ readers believe its Liam Neeson’s box office success with Taken that woke the project back up.
• Putting away worries that rushed biopics look more W. than legitimate Best Picture fodder, C.H.U.D.’s Devin Faraci notes, “If anybody could mount, film, edit and release a huge biopic like this in less than a year, it’s Spielberg, a guy who has proven that Old Hollywood speed is not a completely lost art. Hell, he shot, edited and junketed Munich over the course of a long weekend.”
• The same point, with less snark, at RopeofSilicon.com: “This isn’t anything new for Spielberg who pulled a similar rush job on Munich in 2005 when he began principal photography in early July and the film debuted on December 23 that year and went on to earn $130 million worldwide and was nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay. Kushner also penned Munich with the aid of Eric Roth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).”
• The Playlist doubts it will make it in time, though: “Sounds like intense wishful thinking to us. Massive sets, costumes and presumably CGI would be implemented and even though Spielberg is a notoriously fast shooter, a Christmas release date seems totally far fetched.”
• Robin Ruinsky at Film School Rejects also has doubts, at least of a good film coming by December: “A Christmas 2009 release doesn’t look  feasible to me, not unless they rush this through and I’d hate to see Abraham Lincoln given less than top notch treatment. I like superheroes and who was more of one than Abraham Lincoln? He was the man, the one, the guy who held it all together as the country was on the brink of going down in flames. The history surrounding his life and his presidency is so filled with drama that all I can say is this movie better be good.” It sounds like what Robin’s looking for is the zombie edition of Griffith’s Abraham Lincoln.
• Even before Tapley got his list of prospective candidates out yesterday morning, he’d already quoted a New York Times Magazine article by Pedro Almodovar, who believes Penélope Cruz is likely to be nominated again next year, either for his own Broken Embraces or for Nine. “My film is finished, and I’ve seen images from ‘Nine,’ and I can tell you that this year Penélope Cruz will continue to plumb depths we haven’t seen before.”
• In response to Tom O’Neil’s report that recent Grammy winner Cynthia Nixon is only an Academy Award away from an “awards grand slam,” Vulture declares that her Oscar campaign starts now! Never mind that the IMDb shows her lacking a 2009 film, there’s plenty of time for her to get on something quick, preferably something costarring Kate Winslet, who MCN’s Noah Forrest argues needs an Oscar, just not this year.
• Those actresses may have some stiff competition, though. Check out this list from last November about 2010’s hopeful leading ladies (Michelle Pfeiffer, Helen Mirren, Hilary Swank, Charlize Theron and Meryl Streep). And here’s some other very premature prophecies from as early as last month: from Film.com (2008 leftovers The Soloist and The Road included); from HitFix (Sundance premieres Push: Based on a Novel By Sapphire, An Education, Adam and documentariesThe Cove and We Live in Public).
• Finally (and unfortunately a late add), here is a very comprehensive article on this year’s Oscar hopefuls at Variety, which profiles many of the aforementioned titles as well as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Biutiful, Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man, Jim Sheridan’s Brothers, Stephen Frears’ Cheri, Julie Taymor’s The Tempest, Mira Nair’s Amelia, Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia and Stephen Daldry’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.