With only two Golden Globe nominations to her credit ('Miss Congeniality,' 'While You Were Sleeping'), Sandra Bullock has never been a relevant Oscar-season subject.

But following up Disney summer romantic-comedy blockbuster 'The Proposal' with Warner Bros.' 'The Blind Side' -- which passed the $100 million mark over the weekend -- Bullock is now garnering buzz that extends beyond her re-invigorated box-office power. And that buzz just may bring her an Oscar nomination come Feb. 2. With only two Golden Globe nominations to her credit ('Miss Congeniality,' 'While You Were Sleeping'), Sandra Bullock has never been a relevant Oscar-season subject.

But following up Disney summer romantic-comedy blockbuster 'The Proposal' with Warner Bros.' 'The Blind Side' -- which passed the $100 million mark over the weekend -- Bullock is now garnering buzz that extends beyond her re-invigorated box-office power. And that buzz just may bring her an Oscar nomination come Feb. 2.

Word-of-mouth for 'Blind Side' has been exceptional, with CinemaScore -- a firm that delivers viewer feedback to studios -- giving the movie a rare "A-plus" grade.

And critical reception for the movie has been pretty good (74 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), with even critics who don't like the film enjoying Bullock's portrayal of a middle-class Memphis mom who adopts a homeless African-American football prodigy. In fact, the New York Press liked it better than a movie that has emerged as an early Oscar favorite -- Lionsgate's 'Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire.'

"All Bullock's films promote an edifying sense of human experience -- she has an instinct for what people like to see -- and that gift makes 'The Blind Side' the perfect, God-sent antidote to 'Precious,'" the paper noted.

Early on, Bullock has not been a part of Warner's Oscar-season promotional plans, but that could change, with studio distribution president Dan Fellman telling entertainment news site TheWrap this weekend, "Hopefully, this movie makes the Academy's top 10 (for the best picture race), and Sandy Bullock gets a look, too."



Of course, it's not like Oscar's best actress category is wide open, with Carey Mulligan ('An Education'), Meryl Streep ('Julie & Julia'), Helen Mirren ('The Last Station') and Gabourey Sidibe ('Precious') all expected to garner serious looks from the Academy.

However, beyond those four actors, there are no clear locks for the fifth nomination. Meanwhile, there is precedence for a moderately-budgeted, studio-distributed biopic starring a strong female lead winning the top actress prize, although it's been a while.

In recent years, the category has been primarily taken by performers appearing in independent films and small studio specialty-division titles, such as Kate Winslet last year for 'The Reader' and Marion Cotillard for 'La Vie en Rose' the year before.

However, Julia Roberts won the top female acting prize in 2000 for Universal's 'Erin Brockovich,' also playing a strong, reality-based role that won over both movie-goers and critics.