Oscars: June 2008 Archives

(Photo illustration by Thomas Conner)

With Pixar’s newest blue-chip animated movie ‘‘Wall-E’’ hitting theaters Friday, the 2008 Oscar race is finally off and running.

It’s an unofficial starting gun, of course. Technically, any movie that’s had a commercial release of at least a week in Los Angeles County since the start of the year is eligible to compete. But the first half of the year rarely yields much in the way of Oscar fodder, and this year has been no exception.

Last time around, the Oscar songs category was three times ‘‘Enchanted’’ — a trick that may never be repeated.

The number of original songs that can be nominated from a single movie will now be limited to two, according to a rule change by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The academy’s governors approved the change late Tuesday.