The Academy Awards have announced that 323 feature films have so far been submitted to contend for the 2014 Oscars competition.

The films in contention for the Best Picture Oscar will be narrowed down to a final short list of nominees which will be announced on January 15th at 5.30am PT.

In order for films to be eligible, they must have a running time that exceeds 40 minutes in length, having previously been exhibited theatrically in a qualifying digital format, in 35mm or 70mm.

This year the deadline for feature film submissions is on December 31st. The Academy has also released a list of films that can qualify for the Oscar contest which includes Wes Anderson's highly acclaimed 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' and 'St. Vincent' among others.

The Academy Awards will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on February 22nd, and broadcast live via ABC.