The list of nominees for the 90th annual Academy Awards will be announced Tuesday morning, signaling who's up and who's down in Hollywood, and how the Oscars have been affected by issues of ethnic diversity and equal treatment of women.
The awards ceremony, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be broadcast live on ABC Sunday, Mar. 4.
Along with which movies will head into the Academy Awards with the most nominations, Tuesday morning's announcement will reveal whether James Franco receives a nod despite recent accusations of sexually inappropriate behavior. The allegations surfaced after Franco appeared at the Golden Globes wearing a "Time's Up" pin to show his support for women, and news stories began appearing soon after _ all of which occurred during the Jan. 5-12 period when Academy members were submitting their nominations. Until recently, Franco seemed a likely best actor contender for playing an enigmatic filmmaker in the comedy "The Disaster Artist."
There's also the question of how well Ridley Scott's crime-drama "All the Money in the World" will fare. Scott was initially praised for editing out Kevin Spacey _ who played the oil tycoon J. Paul Getty but was later accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy _ and replacing him with Christopher Plummer, who earned a Golden Globe nomination for supporting actor. Not long after the film's release, however, news spread of a major pay-gap between two of the film's stars: Mark Wahlberg, who received $1.5 million for his re-shot scenes, and Michelle Williams, who earned only about $1,000 for hers.
And what about Greta Gerwig, who could become one of the rare women to earn a best director nomination for her coming-of-age comedy "Lady Bird?" Could Rachel Morrison earn the same distinction in the cinematography category for the drama "Mudbound?" And will the racially-charged horror-satire "Get Out," starring Daniel Kaluuya, earn a spot among the Academy's 10 potential best picture winners?
In less contentious Oscar predictions, it seems likely that Gary Oldman will be nominated as best actor for playing Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour," while Frances McDormand should receive a best actress nod for her role as a grieving mother in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." That film, which just won best ensemble cast from the Screen Actors Guild, will surely be nominated for best picture, though Guillermo del Toro's monster-romance "The Shape of Water" recently became the favorite to win. On Sunday, "The Shape of Water" won the top prize from the Producers Guild of America, which nearly always predicts the best picture Oscar.
