84th Academy Awards - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 84th Academy Awards ceremony will honor the best films of 2011

2011 in film

The year 2011 is notable for containing the release of the most film sequels in a single year, at 27 sequels. The following tables list films that are in production or have completed production and will be released in the United States and Canada at some point in 2011.- Highest-grossing films :...

and will take place on February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre

Kodak Theatre

The Kodak Theatre is a live theatre in the Hollywood and Highland shopping mall and entertainment complex on Hollywood Boulevard and North Highland Avenue in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles...

in Hollywood, California

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...

. It will be televised in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

. The host was originally going to be Eddie Murphy

Eddie Murphy

Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....

. However, after Brett Ratner

Brett Ratner

Brett Ratner is an American film director, film producer and music video director. He is best known for directing the Rush Hour film series, The Family Man, Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Tower Heist. He was also a producer on the Fox drama series, Prison Break.- Early life :Ratner was...

resigned as producer after using a gay slur when talking about rehearsals, Murphy also stepped down.

Billy Crystal

Billy Crystal

William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...

will be taking over as host. This will be Crystal's ninth time hosting the awards ceremony.

Changes to categories

On June 14, 2011, Academy President Tom Sherak

Tom Sherak

Tom Sherak is an American actor-producer who is president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the 2009-2010 term. He was re-elected for a second term in August of 2010.-External links:*...

announced that the Board of Governors approved changes to the following categories:

Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...

: The final nominees can now range from anywhere between 5 and 10. The nomination voting process will be the same as before, through preferential balloting, but now only films that receive a minimum of 5% of total number one votes are eligible for Best Picture nominations. "A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn’t feel an obligation to round out the number," Academy executive director Bruce Davis explained.

Best Animated Feature
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is one of the annual awards given by the Los Angeles-based professional organization, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

: This is now a permanent competitive category, and no longer requires the Board to annually "activate" it. Additionally, rules were amended to give the category more flexibility in terms of the number of nominees it can allow.

Best Documentary Feature: The category's eligibility period has been modified. Prior to 2011, documentaries that screened theatrically between September 1 and August 31 of the following year were eligible. This has now been changed to match the calendar year from January 1 to December 31. As a transition period, the 84th Academy Awards will accept documentaries that were released between September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011.

Best Visual Effects: Previously, seven shortlisted visual effects contenders were announced several weeks before the official nominations announcement. This number has now been changed to 10 to coincide with last year's expansion of the category from 3 to 5 nominees.

Schedule

As of 1 December 2011

Date	Event
Tuesday, December 27, 2011	Nominations ballots mailed
Friday, January 13, 2012	Nominations polls closed at 5:00 p.m. PST Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States... (01:00, 13 Jan. UTC Coordinated Universal Time Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose... ) (8:00 p.m. EST Eastern Standard Time Eastern Standard Time may refer to:North American Eastern Time Zone, UTC-5Australian Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10*An album by Hip Hop group Kooley High... )
Tuesday, January 24, 2012	Nominations announced at 5:38 a.m. PST Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States... (13:38 UTC Coordinated Universal Time Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose... ) (8:38 a.m. EST Eastern Standard Time Eastern Standard Time may refer to:North American Eastern Time Zone, UTC-5Australian Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10*An album by Hip Hop group Kooley High... ) at Samuel Goldwyn Theater
Wednesday, February 1, 2012	Final ballots mailed
Monday, February 6, 2012	Nominees Luncheon
Saturday, February 11, 2012	Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards presentation
Tuesday, February 21, 2012	Final polls closed at 5:00 p.m. PST Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States... (01:00, 21 Feb. UTC Coordinated Universal Time Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose... ) (8:00 p.m. EST Eastern Standard Time Eastern Standard Time may refer to:North American Eastern Time Zone, UTC-5Australian Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10*An album by Hip Hop group Kooley High... )
Sunday, February 26, 2012	84th Annual Academy Awards presentation

Honorary Academy Awards

The Academy will present its Honorary Awards at the 3rd Annual Governors Awards

Governors Awards

The Governors Awards presentation is an annual award ceremony hosted by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , at the Grand Ballroom of the Hollywood and Highland Center. Three awards, the Academy Honorary Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and the Irving G. Thalberg...

ceremony.

Documentary Short

Of these eight films three to five will be nominated.

The Barber of Birmingham
The Barber of Birmingham
The Barber of Birmingham is a 2011 documentary film about James Armstrong, one of the unsung heroes of the U.S. civil rights movement. A World War II veteran and an original flag bearer for the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, Armstrong has run a voter education program out of his barbershop...

, Purposeful Productions, Inc.
God Is the Bigger Elvis, Documentress Films
In Tahrir Square: 18 Days of Egypt's Unfinished Revolution, Downtown Docs
Incident in New Baghdad
Incident in New Baghdad
Incident in New Baghdad is a 2011 short documentary film about the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike, directed by James Spione.The film features a first-person account from Ethan McCord, one of the first soldiers to arrive at the scene of the airstrike that killed between 12 to "over 18" people and...

, Morninglight Films
Pipe Dreams, Leslie Iwerks Productions
Saving Face, Milkhaus/Jungefilm
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, Supply & Demand Integrated
Witness, Buche

Documentary Feature

Five of these fifteen films will be nominated for the Academy Award.

Battle for Brooklyn (RUMUR Inc.)
Bill Cunningham New York
Bill Cunningham New York
Bill Cunningham New York is a 2010 documentary film directed by Richard Press and produced by Philip Gefter. Bill Cunningham New York is distributed by Zeitgeist Films and was released in theaters on March 16, 2011.-Synopsis:...

(First Thought Films)
Buck
Buck (film)
Buck is a 2011 American documentary film directed by Cindy Meehl. The film focuses on the life, career, and philosophy of the real-life "horse whisperer" Buck Brannaman.-Synopsis:...

(Cedar Creek Productions)
Hell and Back Again (Roast Beef Productions Limited)
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front is a documentary film by filmmaker Marshall Curry, exploring the origins, motives, and organization of the Earth Liberation Front and Eco-terrorism in general...

(Marshall Curry Productions, LLC)
Jane's Journey (NEOS Film GmbH & Co. KG)
The Loving Story (Augusta Films)
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory is a 2011 documentary film and sequel to the films Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. The three films chronicle the arrest, 18 year imprisonment, and eventual release of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie...

(@radical.media)
Pina
Pina (film)
Pina is a 2011 German 3D dance film directed by Wim Wenders. The film premiered Out of Competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival. The trailer features the song "Lilies in the Valley" by Jun Miyake...

(Neue Road Movies GmbH)
Project Nim
Project Nim (film)
-Synopsis:The film focuses on Project Nim, which follows a chimpanzee named Nim Chimpsky.-Reception:Project Nim has received an aggregated score of 98% from 114 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes....

(Red Box Films)
Semper Fi: Always Faithful (Tied to the Tracks Films, Inc.)
Sing Your Song (S2BN Belafonte Productions, LLC)
Undefeated
Undefeated (2011 film)
Undefeated is a 2011 documentary directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin. The film documents the struggles of the Memphis's Manassas Tigers as they attempt a winning season after years of losses...

(Spitfire Pictures)
Under Fire: Journalists in Combat (JUF Pictures, Inc.)
We Were Here
We Were Here (film)
We Were Here is a 2011 documentary film about the AIDS crisis in San Francisco. The film, produced and directed by David Weissman with editor/ co-director and Bill Weber, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011, The Berlin Film Festival in February 2011 and had its theatrical...

(Weissman Projects, LLC)

Visual Effects

5 of these fifteen films will be nominated for the Academy Award.