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The film 鈥淛ackie,鈥� which stars Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy, has been acquired by Fox Searchlight and will be released this December, a move that demonstrates the enduring format of the awards hopefuls movie season even as the traditional movie calendar continues to shift.

鈥淛ackie鈥� also stars Peter Sarsgaard, John Hurt, and Greta Gerwig. It impressed critics when it screened at the Toronto Film Festival, which is still going on, and was quickly taken on by Fox Searchlight, which subsequently scheduled the December release date.聽

Many critics are pointing to Ms. Portman, who has already won an Oscar for best actress for the movie 鈥淏lack Swan,鈥� as an awards season contender for her work in the film. They are also seeing Fox Searchlight's choice to release the film in December as a sign that the studio is hopeful Portman could have some success during Oscars season.聽

The end of the year is often seen as a time for awards hopefuls to be released. For example, this year will see well-reviewed or anticipated films such as 鈥淨ueen of Katwe,鈥� 鈥淭he Birth of a Nation,鈥� 鈥淟oving,鈥� and 鈥淏illy Lynn鈥檚 Long Halftime Walk鈥� released between September and December.

This schedule stays mostly the same, despite the fact that the movie calendar has changed in some ways over the past several years. While months like March and April were previously thought of as quieter months at the multiplex, recent blockbusters like 鈥淭he Hunger Games鈥� and 鈥淐aptain America: The Winter Soldier鈥� were released during that time.聽

Some probable awards season contenders like August鈥檚 鈥淔lorence Foster Jenkins鈥� came out at other times. Yet the awards season calendar mostly stays put. Why is this?

Deadline reporter Pete Hammond writes that smaller movies that come out earlier in the year often struggle because so many other studios . 鈥淭he problem with so many of these smaller indie movies released earlier in the year is their not-always-deep-pocketed distributors have to mount expensive campaigns on their behalf or they stand little chance against the big guns of fall,鈥� Mr. Hammond writes.聽

And Forbes writer Scott Mendelson recently wrote that he thinks studios tried more of a spread-out schedule this year, , noting that movies such as 鈥淔ree State of Jones,鈥� and 鈥淭he Infiltrator鈥� did not do well financially when they came out during non-Oscars season times.

鈥淭heoretically, audiences and critics wouldn鈥檛 have to endure a year-end sprint to see all of the relevant Oscar movies,鈥� Mr. Mendelson wrote of spreading out 鈥減restige鈥� movies. 鈥淭he Oscar conversation wouldn鈥檛 be comprised of arbitrarily determined 鈥榗ontenders鈥� which tend to be anointed before they are even released.鈥�

However, when Hollywood tried to alter the schedule, "audiences mostly said: 'No, thank you,'" he observes, saying "It is time to sadly acknowledge that 'Year-round Oscar season' was a failure."