Oscars 2015: Birdman, Grand Budapest Hotel tie with 9 nominations each

The extravagant comedies Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel are tied for the most Oscar nominations with nine each, including for best picture, the U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed this morning from Hollywood.

Birdman, about a washed-up actor who played a superhero, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, about a concierge who teams up with an employee to prove he was framed for murder, were joined in the race for best picture by:

• Boyhood.
• Whiplash.
• The Theory of Everything.
• The Imitation Game.
• American Sniper.
• Selma.

Among Birdman's nominees is Michael Keaton, who is joined in the best-actor category by Eddie Redmayne, for his portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. Keaton and Redmayne last week won Golden Globes in the comedy and drama acting categories, respectively.

• CHAT LIVE about the nominations with Eli Glasner at 7 p.m. ET​
• Q's Oscar panel: who are this year's surprises, snubs and shoo-ins?
• CBC Books: read the books that inspired the films
• List of Oscars 2015 nominees

The other best-actor Oscar nominees are:

• Steve Carell (Foxcatcher).
• Bradley Cooper (American Sniper).
• Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) in the category of best actor in a leading role.

Marion Cotillard was the big surprise for her turn in Two Days, One Night in the category of best actress in a leading role. She's joined by:

• Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything).
• Julianne Moore (Still Alice).
• Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl).
• Reese Witherspoon (Wild). 

Cake star Jennifer Aniston was notably missing from the list.

Predictably, all but one of the nominees for achievement in directing — Alejandro Inarritu​ for Birdman, Richard Linklater for Boyhood, Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel and Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game — all have their films represented in the best-picture main event. Bennett Miller was nominated for directing Foxcatcher, which is not up for best picture.

American Sniper surprises with 6 nominations

The vaunted academy unveiled its list of nominees in all 24 categories on Thursday, in a two-part news conference from the Dolby Theatre in California.

​The Imitation Game, with eight nominations, trailed closely behind Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Clint Eastwood's Navy SEAL drama American Sniper landed six nods, including for best actor for Cooper.

Also with six nominations was Linklater's coming-of-age epic Boyhood, which remains the best-picture favourite.

Canadians nominated in animated categories

Canadians are represented in the animated film categories, with three nominations.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 director Dean DeBlois, fresh off a Golden Globe win for best animated feature, is now up for an Academy Award in the same category. He's from Aylmer, Que.

Graham Annable of Sault Ste Marie, Ont., is also nominated for a best animated feature Oscar as a co-director for The Boxtrolls.

And Norway-born, Montreal-raised Torill Kove is up for a prize in the best animated short film category for Me and My Moulton. She won the Oscar in the same category in 2007 for The Danish Poet and was nominated for her animated short My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts in 2000.

Dragon 2 won the Golden Globe for best animated feature film, so might be considered a favourite for Oscar, especially since the mega-popular The Lego Movie wasn't included in the list of nominees in that category.

The latter's ubiquitous anthem Everything is Awesome, arguably bigger than the movie it's featured in, was nominated for best original song.

Wild's Canadian director not nominated

Wild's Witherspoon and Laura Dern (best supporting actress) were nominated, though Montreal-born director Jean-Marc Vallée was passed over. 

​It's a near parallel of his absence in the best director category last year for Dallas Buyers Club. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto won best actor and best supporting actor awards, respectively, for their turns in the film, which centres on the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Anderson's old Europe caper The Grand Budapest Hotel, which also won best comedy or musical at the Golden Globes, has emerged as the most unexpected Oscar heavyweight.

Released nearly a year ago last winter, the film CBC's Eli Glasner calls "a weird, wonderful, strange kooky masterpiece" is also the most lucrative entry in the best picture category. That may change once the final numbers for American Sniper, which doesn't open in Canada until this Friday, are tallied.

Announcement flub gets guffaws

The nominations announcement ceremony Thursday had a few unexpected moments as well.

Director J.J. Abrams introduced his Star Trek leading man as "an actor named Chris Pine" at the end of the first session of announcements.

As well, academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs may have cemented some online notoriety for herself when she announced Dick Pope as a nominee for cinematography in Mr. Turner, mispronouncing his name as "dick poop" before quickly correcting herself.

Last year's Oscars, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, drew 43 million viewers, making it the most-watched entertainment telecast in a decade. 12 Years a Slave took best picture. 

This year's ceremony on Feb. 22 will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris. 

You can take part in a live chat with CBC's Eli Glasner and CBC Online's Lauren O'Neil breaking down the entire slate, and what to expect at the main event, tonight at 7 p.m. ET.