The first Academy Awards were held in 1929 in the Blossom Room of Hollywood’s Roosevelt Hotel.
Get ready, movie lovers: stars will descend on the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on March 4 to celebrate the 90th annual Academy Awards.
This year, Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” has the most Oscars nominations, leading with 13. That’s just short of “All About Eve,” ”Titanic” and “La La Land,” which all received a record-setting 14 nods in the past.
Ahead of one of the film industry’s glitziest events, here’s what you need to know.
The Oscars, also known as the Academy Awards, are presented at a ceremony honoring the film industry. The event is hosted annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Each year, a total of 24 awards are given out. The categories include Best Picture, Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Best Director, Animated Feature, Animated Short, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Live Action Short Film, Best Foreign Language Film, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Production Design, Original Score, Original Song, Hair and Makeup, Costume Design and Visual Effects.
Winners receive a gold statue that is formally called an “Academy Award of Merit.”
The first Academy Awards were held in 1929 in the Blossom Room of Hollywood’s Roosevelt Hotel. At that time, the winners were announced three months in advance (the sealed-envelope method didn’t come about until 1941).
Tune in on March 4 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC to watch the show. Comedian and TV personality Jimmy Kimmel will host the event. Kimmel also hosted the Oscars last year.
Aside from “The Shape of Water,” “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “Dunkirk” fared well, with seven and eight nominations, respectively.
“Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic, has most of its nominations in technical categories. Additionally, Nolan also received a nod for Best Director for the first time.
Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” also received a few different nominations.
In addition to a Best Picture and a Best Original Screenplay nomination, Saoirse Ronan, the lead actress in “Lady Bird,” received a Best Actress nod. And Laurie Metcalf was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
Additionally, Gerwig was nominated for Best Director, making the 34-year-old the fifth woman to ever receive a Best Director nod.
A number of other films also fared well. “Blade Runner 2049” had five nods, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” had three, as did “Baby Driver.” “Beauty and the Beast” had nominations and so did Pixar’s “Coco,” which is up for Best Animated feature.
The show’s producers, Jennifer Todd and Michael De Luca, announced the first round of presenters on Feb. 16.
“Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman, “Girls Trip” breakout star Tiffany Haddish, “Lady Bird” director Greta Gerwig and “The Big Sick” co-writer and actor Kumail Nanjiani are set to present at the 90th annual Academy Awards.
Laura Dern, Jennifer Garner, Tom Holland, Margot Robbie and Daniela Vega are also slated to present, along with past Oscar winners Mahershala Ali, Viola Davis and Emma Stone.
On Feb. 21, the producers announced that “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot and “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill will also take the stage. Hamill’s “The Last Jedi” co-stars Oscar Isaac and Kelly Marie Tran will also be presenters.
Armie Hammer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gina Rodriguez and Zendaya have also been booked as presenters.
Emily Blunt, Sandra Bullock, Dave Chappelle, Eugenio Derbez, Ansel Elgort, Jane Fonda and Jodie Foster are all slated to present. Actresses Eiza González, Ashley Judd and Nicole Kidman will present as well, the show’s producers said, along with Matthew McConaughey, Helen Mirren, Rita Moreno, Lupita Nyong’o and Christopher Walken.
While no one knows for sure how the statuette got the nickname, an urban legend says the name came about after Margaret Herrick, a librarian for the Academy, said the statuette resembled her uncle whose name was Oscar. The Academy first used the nickname in 1939, a few years after the moniker officially came about.
Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson have the most-ever nominations. Streep has 21 nominations and three wins. This year, she’s up for Best Actress for her role in “The Post.”
Katherine Hepburn, who died in 2003, has 12 nominations and four wins. And actor Jack Nicholson has 12 nominations and three wins.
Other top nominated stars include Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, Cate Blanchett, Jeff Bridges, Robert De Niro and Jane Fonda, among others.
What’s more, Hepburn, along with Tom Hanks, Alan Menken, Jason Robards, Andre Previn, Henry Mancini, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, John Ford, Spencer Tracy and Luise Rainer have all received back-to-back Oscar wins.
Last year, an infamous envelope mix-up led to “La La Land” being incorrectly announced as the Best Picture before “Moonlight” was crowned.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is an accounting firm that counts the votes and keeps the results a secret prior to the event. During the Oscars, PwC officials stand backstage and hand presenters the envelopes before they walk on stage to announce the winner.
But last year, Warren Beatty, who announced the Best Picture award alongside Faye Dunaway, was accidentally handed an envelope for Best Actress instead of Best Picture — ultimately leading to the mistake.
This year, to prevent another mishap, the academy has prohibited the PwC accountants who handle the envelopes from using cell phones or social media during the show. Several other reforms were announced ahead of the awards show, including the addition of a third balloting partner in the show’s control room.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
