Looking for a place to watch the Oscar nominations announced live? Look no further! And while you wait, why not scroll down to read our predictions for most of the 24 categories.
Watch the 2015 Oscar nominations announced live
This year for the first time, the Academy will announce the nominees in all 24 categories. Directors Alfonso Cuarσn and J.J. Abrams will reveal of eleven categories at 5:30 AM Pacific. Then, eight minutes later, actor Chris Pine and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs will announce the remaining thirteen categories including the four acting categories, two screenplay awards, director, and Best Picture.
Predicting who gets nominated and who doesn't isn't that hard if you've been keeping an eye on all the different critics and guild awards that have issued either nominees or winners. With that said, here go my guesses, which are presented from most likely to least likely. These are shaped by having seen all but a few of the English language films expected to compete (Mr. Turner, A Most Violent Year, Still Alice, and Cake).
Predictions
Picture
Since switching to a variable field, the Oscars have always chosen nine Best Picture nominees. Everyone expects that to be the norm and it would be downright shocking to get as few as five, though that's a possibility. It's not utterly clear what conditions we'd need to have the maximum field of ten, but suffice it to say that it seems unlikely. Having any less than nine might well be unlikely too, after three years of exactly that. Anything below Foxcatcher making the cut would be considered a surprise and anything below Nightcrawler a pretty significant surprise, so don't get your hopes up, fans of entertaining blockbusters!
Actor
Keaton's had the winning narrative all season and should be on his way to collecting his first nomination and win. It would appear that only the top three are locked in this deep category, with Cooper and Gyllenhaal very capable of sneaking in.
Actress
I could see Jones missing out here and Theory of Everything doing worse than expected overall. I can understand the traditional biopic's appeal, especially for older voters, but will it really inspired the passion to place it at the top of their ballots? This would be Adams' sixth nomination and sixth fruitless one, since everyone agrees that the thus unvictorious Moore is overdue for a win.
Supporting Actor
J.K. Simmons has this award in the bag. The last slot in this category seems like an absolute wild card, as it was last year when Jonah Hill snuck in for The Wolf of Wall Street with no prior recognition. A nomination for Duvall would simply be a display of no imagination. The obvious solution would be to nominate Carell, who unfortunately has the potential to miss in the lead category (for which he was campaigned) and was acceptably nominated in the supporting category for BAFTA.
Supporting Actress
This category seems pretty locked, with Arquette all set to pick up her first win from her first nomination.
Director
Chazelle strikes me as this year's Benh Zeitlin (remember him?), a young director whom is rewarded and encouraged for making something powerful. This is one of the only major categories where I could have as few as two (the top two) accurately predicted.
Original Screenplay
The Academy really, really likes the writing of Mike Leigh (Mr. Turner); he's been nominated in this category five times, including a number of times when the movies have not been nominated for anything else. Not many are expecting it, but history is on Leigh's side.
Adapted Screenplay
The Academy's last-minute decision to classify Whiplash as an adapted screenplay (because the filmmakers entered a proof of concept short into festivals) well into the voting process could cost it the writing nomination it was otherwise certain to get. If it is nominated in this category, however, you've got to like its odds of winning.
Film Editing
This category often gives us our five strongest Best Picture nominees, but David Fincher films have consistently done well here, most recently The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo winning.
Animated Feature
This category consistently includes a foreign film whose title stands out from the others in its obscurity. If it's not Kaguya this year, then perhaps it will be Song of the Sea. Otherwise, they could go the uncharacteristic safe route and pick The Book of Life. But the top four are just about cemented.
Foreign Language Film
The Academy's shortlist of nine makes this fairly easy to predict.
Documentary Feature
The Academy's shortlist of fifteen makes this somewhat easy to predict.
Visual Effects
Cinematography
Production Design
This is the one award that Grand Budapest Hotel is most likely to win and probably the one I am most likely to be perfectly okay with it winning.
Costume Design
Makeup and Hairstyling
I'd have expected Into the Woods to make it, until it missed the shortlist of seven.
Original Song
You'd think songs that are incorporated into the film and actually advance the story would have the upper hand, but if Lego Movie and Muppets miss out, that's not the case.
Original Score
With Birdman deemed ineligible, this category is pretty open for the taking.
Sound Editing
Don't bet against films with gunfire.
Sound Mixing
This is the category that often nominates and rewards musicals.
Documentary Short, Animated Short, Live-Action Short
I'm not even going to bother with these three categories, because I've seen a grand total of one contender: Feast, the Disney animated short that played before Big Hero 6. I assume its chances are good, but these are, as usual, a shot in the dark.
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