The nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were released in Los Angeles. As the nominees in all 24 categories were announced, the race for Hollywood's most prestigious honor officially began.

After a year of phenomenal pictures and performances, the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had an extraordinarily tough job of narrowing down the select top ones for the annual prestigious Oscar awards.

As with previous Academy Award nominations in the past, there were the same amount of surprises and snubs sprinkled throughout the twenty-four categories. Fox Searchlight led the pack with two of their films, Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel each earning nine nominations.

For Best Actor, the nominees included Steve Carell playing a wrestling enthusiast and Olympic coach in Foxcatcher, Bradley Cooper portraying the title protagonist in American Sniper, Benedict Cumberbatch taking on the role of integral World War II British genius Alan Turing who invented the world’s first computer, Michael Keaton playing Birdman, and Eddie Redmayne as physicist Stephen Hawking.

Apparent snubs from the Best Actor category included David Oyelowo portraying Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma and Jake Gyllenhaal playing the pathological, immoral thief in Nightcrawler.

Awards editor at Variety, Tim Gray, spoke about exactly how tight the race for nominations can get.

"The Best Actor category was one of the most crowded this year. There are five slots – only five people can be nominated and I wrote a column saying maybe they should expand it this year because there were about 12 people who should be there. I think people who weren’t there like Jake Gyllenhaal and David Oyelowo, I’m assuming they just missed out by one or two notes," said Tim Gray, awards editor.

In the category for Best Actress in a leading role, a new name that had not been prevalent in previous awards nominations, popped into contention, edging Jennifer Aniston out.

Marion Cotillard received a nomination for her portrayal of a young wife and mother fighting to keep her job in a solar-panel factory in the underrated Belgian drama film Two Nights, One Day. Her biggest competitors in this category include the new Golden Globe winner Julianne Moore in Still Alice and Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl.

Film critic Leonard Maltin explained why Cotillard’s nomination was deserving and what this could mean for the film.

"Well, I think they’ve chosen well. Marion Cotillard gives a great performance in this really good film that more people need to see – Two Days, One Night – a film by the Belgian brothers – the Dardennne brothers – they make great films and they win prizes at Cannes every year but they’re not in the multiplexes in the neighborhoods so more people need to know their films and now maybe more people will be inspired to go out and see her work in this really good movie," said Leonard Maltin, film critic.

Cotillard’s nod was so unexpected that it drew audible gasps during the announcement. Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs spoke about how the Oscars can provide a platform to help such independent films get a broader scope of recognition.

"There are a number of independent films that were recognized today and they have been year in and year out. But we never know – there’s no trend other than we always look for the best. We’re about acknowledging excellence," said Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Academy President.

Eight was the lucky number as eight films were nominated out of the ten available slots for Best Motion Picture of the Year. The race narrowed down to American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything, and Whiplash.

The race for Oscar can be very unpredictable for these riveting nominees and their compelling projects. Contenders anxiously await their much hoped-for Oscar attention, as it can translate into substantial box office boosts. Even smaller, lower-budget dramatic fare tends to enjoy some measure of coattail effects from an Oscar nomination.

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