The ballots have been turned in and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the nominations for the 87th Academy Academy bright and early on Thursday, January 15th.  As usual the nominations will be announced at 5:30 AM/PST at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California.  But this year’s announcements come with a twist.Typically, the Academy president and a well known actor announce live just the high profile nominations (picture, director, acting categories, etc.). However, this year all 24 categories will be a part of the live announcement.  Doling out the announcements will be Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Chris Pine (Into the Woods), and director Alfonso Cuarón and J.J. Abrams.

Next Thursday, the announcement will begin at 5:30 AM with Oscar winning director Cuarón (Gravity) and Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) announcing the nominations for the first twelve categories.  They will announce the following categories: Animated Feature Film, Documentary, Documentary Short Subject, Film Editing, Original Song, Production Design, Animated Short Subject, Live Action Short Subject, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects.  At approximately 5:38 AM, Boone Isaacs and Pine will announce nominations for the remaining categories: Lead Actor, Lead Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Costume Design, Directing, Foreign Film, Make-up and Hairstyling, Original Score, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, and Picture.

The change of direction in the Oscar announcement came from returning producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.  “I’d always say to Neil how frustrating it was to only find out a handful of nominees and then have to wait for the rest to be put online,” Zadan was quote in Deadline. “We live in an age with social networking and live television where it felt not right to ignore the branches that got slighted.”

For early risers and movie aficionados, the Academy will live stream the announcement via a YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/Oscars.)  You can also find out the full list of nominations for the 87th Academy Awards right here on Thursday morning.  The Oscar telecast will be be on February 22nd with first time host Neil Patrick Harris.