Oscars® producers David Hill and Reginald Hudlin announced today the first slate of presenters for the 88th Oscars telecast. The Oscars, hosted by Chris Rock, will air live OSCAR® SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, on the ABC Television Network.

BWW has just learned that Tony and Emmy-winning set designer Derek McLane (THE WIZ LIVE!) will return to design the sets for this year ACADEMY AWARDS for the fourth consecutive year.

Star from the world of theater were recognized in several categories this year. For Best Actor in a Lead Role, Tony Award winner Bryan Cranston (ALL THE WAY) received a nod for TRUMBO. He shares the honor with last year's Oscar winner and Tony Award winner Eddie Redmayne (RED) for THE DANISH GIRL, and Michael Fassbender for STEVE JOBS.

Happy holidays movie nerds! Nominations were announced for the 88th Annual Academy Awards this morning, and while I don't believe that there were any glaring, outrage-inducing snubs, I am going to go through the major categories and share some knee-jerk reactions. As is often the case for those of us that follow movie releases and award shows closely, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences didn't throw too many curveballs in this year's nominations, which means that there are a lot of people that have seen many of the nominees in the major categories. In fact, the Best Picture nominees have pulled in almost $602 million at the domestic box office, a pretty big number, considering half of them were released in the last two months and had to contend with the behemoth that is STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS.

The 88th Oscars Nominations Announcement was broadcast live today, Thursday, January 14, from the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.