All Aboard the Carey Mulligan Oscar-Comeback Express!

A couple days after Movieline wondered aloud what the hell ever happened to one-time Oscar shoo-in Carey Mulligan, some blowback emerged from the folks at Sony Pictures Classics. "We have several weeks of voting after the Oscar nominations are announced," an SPC insider protested to another blogger, "so the Best Actress game is not over. It's not even half-time yet." Well, OK. But while no one here really doubted Mulligan would get nominated yesterday, skepticism persisted about just how much of an impact -- if any -- she'd have on the "Best Actress game," and just what Sony Classics had in mind to get her back in playing shape. At least part of that answer is cleared up this morning: How about a 900-percent theatrical expansion?

The LAT reports today that among this year's 10 Best Picture nominees, An Education features the most aggressive post-nomination expansion of all, from 75 screens presently to 760 screens this Friday. This doesn't necessarily change Team Mulligan's internal approach to the Oscar race (though the "I couldn't sleep and now I'm pinching myself" reaction quote was a charming enough start), but at least the distributor is capitalizing on the moment and putting Mulligan in a place where she can not only be seen, but possibly discussed for the first time in months. That said, no rush! If it wasn't half-time two weeks ago -- before Sandra Bullock really ran up the Best Actress lead with Tuesday's nomination -- then you can bet it is today.

· Studios looking to cash in on Oscar nominations [LAT]