Oscars 2014: Leonardo Dicaprio, Jennifer Lawrence are in; Oprah out
Actress Glenn Close pays tribute to notable movie-industry figures who have died.
(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)Anna Kendrick and Gabourey Sidibe announce the nominees for film editing.
(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)Actors Michael B. Jordan and Kristen Bell speak onstage.
(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)Jared Leto wins the supporting actor Oscar for his role as the AIDS-stricken transsexual Rayon in “Dallas Buyers Club.” Leto said: “To all my fellow nominees, I’m so proud to share this journey with you. This,” he said as he raised his award, “is for the 36 million people who have lost the battle to AIDS.”
(Kevin Winter / Getty Images)The success of the Oscars telecast depends on a lot of factors: Was the host funny? Did the musical numbers go on forever?
But the single biggest reason for the success or failure of the show is whether the nominated movies were popular with fans and whether a lot of stars were nominated.
So with that in mind, how do this year’s nominees stack up in terms of drawing power?
Oscars 2014: Complete list of nominees
On the plus side, three of the movies that got multiple nominations were -- or are -- huge box office hits: “Gravity,” “American Hustle” and “Captain Phillips.” Another big Oscar player, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which opened in late December, also looks to be a crowd pleaser.
And there will be some A-list stars competing for awards, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts.
PHOTOS: Oscars 2014 snubs and surprises
But some notable names and movies will be missing, most noticeably talk show mogul Oprah Winfrey, who some thought would be nominated for best supporting actress for her role in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.” In fact, that film was shut out of the Oscar nomination race, depriving the show of one of the year’s more popular movies.
Some longtime favorites also got snubbed, among them Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson and Robert Redford.
But the original song category could provide some uplift for the March 2 Oscar telecast: Among the nominees are U2, Pharell Williams and Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead vocalist Karen O.
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Oscars 2014: Complete list of nominees
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Alicia Banks is a former Metpro trainee at the Los Angeles Times.