The 2015 Oscars Preview, News and What to Expect

This year's Oscars, or the 87th Academy Awards, ceremony by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honor the best films of 2014 is set to take place February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Academy Awards, otherwise known as 'Oscars,' will be handed in 24 categories. The ceremony, televised live by ABC in the United States, and produced by Neil Meron and Craid Zadan, will be directed by Hamish Hamilton. This year's Oscars' host will be actor Neil Patrick Harris, his first time at emceeing for the movie industry's biggest event

The Oscar nominees were announced on January 15 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, film directors J.J. Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron, and actor Chris Pine. Tied for the most nominations with nine each are the films The Grand Budapest Hotel and Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).

The nominees for the Best Picture award are: Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), The Grand Budapest Hotel, American Sniper, Boyhood, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything, and Whiplash. For the Best Director award, the nominees are Wes Anderson for his The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu for Birdman, Richard Linklater for Boyhood, Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher, and Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game.

The nominees for Best Actor award are Steve Carell, Bradley Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Keaton, and Eddie Redmayne. For the Best Actress category, they are Marion Cotillard, Felicity Jones, Julianne Moore, Rosamund Pike, and Reese Witherspoon. The nominees for best supporting actor are Robert Duvall, Ethan Hawke, Mark Ruffalo, and J.K. Simmons, while for best supporting actress, they are Patricia Arquette, Laura Dern, Keira Knightley, Emma Stone, and Meryl Streep.

For the intermission numbers, the show organizers have not yet released the sequence of the performance numbers, but as usual, it will include segments to showcase the nominees for the 'Original Song' category, namely Adam Levine with "Lost Stars" (from Begin Again), Common and John Legend with "Glory" (Selma), Rita Ora with "Grateful" (Beyond the Lights), Tim McGraw with "I'm Not Gonna Miss You" (Glen Campbell...I'll Be Me) and Tegan and Sara and The Lonely Island with "Everything Is Awesome" (The Lego Movie). Also expected to be seen are special numbers by Lady Gaga, Jack Black, Jennifer Hudson and Anna Kendrick.