Oscars Class of 2018

More than 175 Oscar nominees came together at noon on Monday, February 5, at the Beverly Hilton when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honors this year’s Oscar contenders at its annual Nominees Luncheon.

Among the Lead Actor and Actress nominees, Timothée Chalamet, Sally Hawkins, Daniel Kaluuya, Frances McDormand, Gary Oldman, Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan and Meryl Streep attended the pre-Oscars event. Supporting Actor and Actress nominees Mary J. Blige, Willem Dafoe, Allison Janney, Richard Jenkins, Laurie Metcalf, Sam Rockwell and Octavia Spencer also join the celebratory lunch.

All five nominees in the Directing category – Paul Thomas Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, Greta Gerwig, Jordan Peele and Christopher Nolan – attended as well. There are 200 nominees and five countries represented in this year’s class.

The 90th Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Please take note that the Academy calls the class "Class of 2017" but as happens every single year many of us prefer to call the year where the awards are given for whatever the person did in the previous year.  More clearly, in 2018 the Academy honors films that were released during 2017, so -for many of us cinema pundits- is the Class of 2018.

The official photo

The Luncheon