Wes Anderson’s art-house feature “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s black comedy “Birdman” grabbed nine Oscar nominations each as the Academy Award nominations were announced early Thursday morning.
The eight best picture nods include “Whiplash”, “American Sniper” and the controversial Martin Luther King Jr biopic “Selma”.
Canadian nominations include filmmakers Dean DeBlois director of “How to Train Your Dragon 2” for best animated feature and Montreal animator Torill Kove for his animated short “Me and My Moulton”.
DeBlois is a graduate of Sheridan College’s animation program.
Online reactions on social media sites such as Twitter to the announcement are mixed, with many disappointed in the omission of features like “The Lego Movie” . The live telecast of the award ceremony will take place on Feb. 22. A full list of nominees can found here.