La La Land, Moonlight and Arrival Oscars favorites – Prestigious award ceremony to be held on February 26

The 89th Oscar award ceremony will be held at L.A’s Dolby Theatre on Sunday night, February 26.

This year’s favorites are the musical La La Land, with 14 nominations, as well as Moonlight and Arrival, with eight nominations each.

La La Land, whose 14 nominations place it next to Titanic and All About Eve, was directed by Damien Chazelle (32) and stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.

Other nominations include Manchester by Sea, Hell or High Water, Lion, Fences, Hidden Figures and Hacksaw Ridge.

The biggest surprise is the nomination of Hollywood underdog Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge. His WWII drama has been nominated for Best Movie and Best Director awards.

Best Actor nominees are Casey Affleck, Andrew Garfield, Ryan Gosling, Viggo Mortensen and Denzel Washington, whereas Best Actress nominees are Isabelle Hupert, Ruth Negga, Natalie Portman, Emma Stone and Meryl Streep.

Mahershala Ali, Jeff Bridges, Michael Shannon, Lucas Hedges and Dev Patel will be competing for Best Supporting Actor award.

Following two years of criticism over a lack of diversity, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated several movies featuring African-American actors and actresses, such as Fences with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis and Moonlight with Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris.

Several famous musicians, among which are Sting, Justin Timberlake, John Legend and Lin-Manuel Miranda, will perform numbers nominated for Best Original Song award.

This year’s ceremony, which starts at 7 pm local time, will be broadcast by ABC and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

Oscar

Oscar award ceremony

Oscar award

La La Land

Moonlight

Arrival

Titanic

All ABout Eve

Damien Chazelle

Emma Stone

Ryan Gosling

Manchester by Sea

Hell or High Water

Lion

Fences

Hidden Figures

Hacksaw Ridge

Hollywood

Mel Gibson

Casey Affleck

Viggo Mortensen

Denzel Washington

Ruth Negga

Isabelle Hupert

Natalie Portman

Meryl Streep

Mahershala Ali

Jeff Bridges

Lucas Hedges

Dev Patel

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Viola Davis

Naomie Harris

Sting

Justin Timberlake

John Legend

Lin Manuel Miranda

ABC

Jimmy Kimmel