'Birdman' and 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' lead the 2015 Oscar nominations.

The nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were announced on January 15th in Los Angeles, USA. The two films with the most nominations were Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel, each with 9 nominations.

Birdman is an experimental satirical film by director Alejandro González Iñárritu, about a fading star trying to regain his former glory. First released at the Venice Film Festival in August 2014, it has since garnered numerous awards, including "Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical" for Michael Keaton at the 2015 Golden Globes.

This year's Oscar "Best Picture" category is a competition between eight films, mostly low-budget independent movies.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a comedy directed by Paul Wes Anderson about a customer service representative at a European hotel before World War II. The film also dominated the BAFTA nominations with 11 nominations. At the Golden Globes a week earlier, it won the "Best Comedy/Musical Film" award.

The British biographical film The Imitation Game, about the gay mathematician Alan Turning, received eight nominations, including “Best Picture,” “Best Adapted Screenplay,” “Best Actor” (for Benedict Cumberbatch), and “Best Supporting Actress” (Keira Knightley).

The film that dominated the Golden Globe Awards was Boyhood, which received 6 nominations, the same number as American Sniper, directed and starring veteran actor Clint Eastwood.

Directors JJ Abrams (left - top photo) and Alfonso Cuaron hosted the first half of the Oscar nominations announcement, while the second half was hosted by actor Chris Pine and Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Academy President.

In the "Best Picture" category, the eight films competing this year are mostly low-budget independent films, including Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Boyhood, American Sniper, Selma, The Theory of Everything, and Whiplash. Director Ava DuVernay of Selma is the only female director with a film on this list. However, she is not included in the "Best Director" category.

The "Best Director" category saw competition between filmmaker Richard Linklater of Boyhood, Wes Anderson of The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alejandro González Iñárritu of Birman, Bennett Miller of Foxcatcher, and Morten Tyldum of The Imitation Game.

Veteran actor Michael Keaton of Birdman is a prominent name among the nominees for "Best Actor," alongside British star Eddie Redmayne of The Theory of Everything, Steve Carell of Foxcatcher, Bradley Cooper of American Sniper, and Benedict Cumberbatch of The Imitation Game. This marks the third consecutive year Bradley Cooper has been nominated for an Oscar for acting.

The nominations for "Best Actress" (pictured above) and "Best Actor" at the 87th Academy Awards.

The "Best Actress" category features a host of stars. First is Oscar-winning Marion Cotillard for Two Days, One Night. Second is Golden Globe winner Julianne Moore for Still Alice. Both will compete against Reese Witherspoon in Wild and two British beauties: Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything and Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl.

The five nominees for “Best Foreign Language Film” include Ida (Poland) by director Paweł Pawlikowski, revolving around a nun; Leviathan by renowned Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, about a farmer trying to prevent a greedy mayor from seizing his land; Estonia by director Zaza Urushadze, depicting an Abkhazian village during wartime in the early 1990s; Wild Tales, a collection of six short films about violence by Spanish director Damián Szifrón; and the French film Timbuktu, which competed at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

More than 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will vote for the 87th Academy Awards from February 6th to February 17th. The Oscar ceremony will take place on February 22nd at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, USA.

According to VNE