Universal is still the most consistent Oscar studio in recent years. Some might chalk that up to the campaign structure laid out each year by Tony Angellotti. Others would look to the rose-colored nature of films like “A Beautiful Mind,” “Ray” and “Seabiscuit,” the sort of cinema Academy members eat up, for the answer to the studio’s success. But “Munich” kind of knocks that logic. Regardless, Universal always seems to tap into something urgent and powerful when they run with a contender, and they’ve got a number of choices in that regard this year.

“United 93” is already the critical champion of the year, bursting with “urgency,” while “Children of Men” looks to tackle tough issues in the realm of science fiction later in the year. Additionally, the studio boasts entries from veteran directors Brian De Palma (“The Black Dahlia”), Spike Lee (“Inside Man”) and Michael Mann (“Miami Vice”) that could certainly provide outlets for various other notices. From here, however, it still looks like “The Good Shepherd” is where we’ll find most of the eggs, a rather epic story penned by Eric Roth, directed by Robert De Niro and sporting a who’s who of Oscar-winning talent behind the scenes.

(NOTE: Specialty division and general Oscar hound Focus Features is curiously thin on awards hopefuls this year. However, I still expect they will find the right marks with “Catch a Fire,” “Hollywoodland” under former Weinstein Oscar consultant Karen Fried.)

Sony is going to have a lot of decisions to make this fall as to positioning. Last year one of their Oscar hopefuls was bumped to the 2006 slate, while their Best Picture contender, “Memoirs of a Geisha,” crashed and burned with critics (though still went on to score the second highest tally of nominations and share in the highest total of wins). We don’t tend to see a lot of love for the studio outside of specialty division Sony Pictures Classics, but things might change in that regard this year.

Coming down the pike, Sony has a nice mixture of prestige/Oscar bait contenders (“All the King’s Men,” “Marie Antoinette”), quirky offerings that tug the heart strings (“Running With Scissors,” “Stranger Than Fiction”), and typically unique entries coming out of Sony Classics (“Friends With Money,” “Who Killed the Electric Car?,” “Volver”). At the end of the day, I actually expect the studio’s efforts to turn toward the less obvious films for awards clout, rather than lean on the bait-ish stuff that somehow seems destined to disappoint.

What continues to be the most awards savvy specialty division amongst the studios, Fox Searchlight landed their first Best Picture nomination in 2004 with “Sideways.” Things were a little sparse in 2005, but the studio really got things started early this year when they sent out a press package containing the source materials of their 2006 film adaptations. “Fast Food Nation,” “The Last King of Scotland,” “Notes on a Scandal” and “Thank You For Smoking,” plus original hopefuls “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Margaret,” combine for a highly diverse mixture, one that could easily speckle the list of Oscar nominees in January.

All of that said, the power of “The History Boys” can’t be ignored as, potentially, the studio’s top contender – especially coming off a record-tying Tony collection a few months ago. “The Last King of Scotland,” though, seems like a threatening and powerful opportunity to make a run, but luckily these decisions are not mine to make. Furthermore, if you add parent company’s “A Good Year” to the equation, it becomes clear that Century City might be a happening place indeed this film awards season.

Warner Bros. has always been somewhat notorious for missing the boat on the Oscar procession. Not that the studio has been in need of awards hopefuls, but it’s always been rough sailing without Clint Eastwood at the helm of this endeavor or that. Well, things are slowly changing, and with the hire of former Focus Oscar consultant Michelle Robertson (a huge step in the right direction), I’m betting the studio will inevitably grow to be a dominant awards season force in the near future. This season will be the training wheels, however, but there is a promising crop on the horizon. Though the recent lack of financial (“Poseidon,” Superman Returns”) and creative (“Lady in the Water”) success could be an obstacle.

As for the films, it seems as many people are writing Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed” off as too commercial for its own good as are looking to it for a return to form. Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain” might be the right sort of Kubrickian individuality that turns a head or two, or it might wither away as an also-ran in most categories. Meanwhile the Curtis Hanson/Eric Roth collaboration “Lucky You” is lurking as something potentially surprising in the mix. The real contender looks to be Steven Soderbergh’s “The Good German,” George Clooney in black and white one more time, though that may change if the studio picks up Milos Forman’s “Goya’s Ghosts” (what with the past relationship Forman and producer Saul Zaentz have with the studio). Specialty division Warner Indpendent also has its hands full (“For Your Consideration,” “Happy Feet,” “Infamous,” “The Painted Veil,” “The Science of Sleep”).

Only Sony matches the multitude of films coming out of these merged conglomerates this year, vying for awards consideration. However, the difference here is the unique nature of the film output from project to project. Dreamworks was the challenger to Miramax’s throne once upon a time, while Paramount has long been one of the weakest Oscar studios in town. All of that seems destined to changed, even in the wake of a dramatic year on Melrose.

“Dreamgirls” and “Flags of Our Fathers” are already the Oscar bait contenders heavily observed from afar. But then there is “World Trade Center,” screening the past two weeks and opening at the end of the summer, much like “The Constant Gardener” last year, but likely to be touted as the beginning of the Oscar season much more strongly than that film was. “Zodiac” is being considered something of an opus from David Fincher, while the animation branch will be quite familiar with the studio (“Barnyard,” “Flushed Away,” “Over the Hedge”). Toss in potential technical branch love for “Ask the Dust,” “Charlotte’s Web” and “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,” add a dash of Paramount Vantage’s Cannes success “Babel,” and you’re looking at a machine, folks.

(COMING WEDNESDAY: Pre-Oscar Week II: UNDER THE RADAR, a look at potential surprise performances lurking in the awards season mix.)