Here's yet another reason why Hollywood studios must release their Oscar contenders before late December. In the cases of "The Great Debaters" and "The Bucket List," DVD screeners had to be sent to academy members even before those films opened in theaters. At this point we don't know if those DVDs were the source, but pirated copies hit the Internet before those pix hit cineplexes. Oscar screeners are embedded with the names of recipients so they can be traced, but if they're the source and the culprits are never fingered, then it's obvious that pirates have found a clever way to hack through.

According to VCDQuality.com, which monitors illegal cyber-releases, these other December-released Oscar films are also in cyber-circulation: "Atonement," "The Kite Runner" and "I Am Legend." But so are popcorn pix "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks," which are contenders in the Oscar tech categories.

Luckily, "There Will Be Blood," which debuts in theaters on Wednesday and was shipped via DVDs to voters on Dec. 16, hasn't been leaked yet. Neither has "Sweeney Todd," which opened on Dec. 21 and arrived in Oscar voters' mailboxes on Christmas Eve.

However, all of these earlier derby contenders have been ripped off: "American Gangster," "The Brave One," "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," "Eastern Promises," "The Golden Compass," "Gone Baby Gone," "I'm Not There," "No Country for Old Men" and "3:10 to Yuma."