On the evening of February 22nd, 2015, the red carpet at the 87th annual Academy Awards was lined with celebrities anxiously awaiting the nights’ events to unfold. The event was all hosted by actor and comedian, Neil Patrick Harris.
This year’s Academy Awards had approximately 36.6 million viewers, according to variety.com which, despite having yet another well-known actor hosting, is the lowest total since 2009, which also had around 36.6 million viewers. From 2014 to 2015 alone, there was a significant difference of 7.14 million viewers with 43.74 million people watching in 2014. What could have caused the number of viewers to drop so much? Could it have been the lack of Ellen DeGeneres’s unique comedic tone? Or perhaps it was the (arguable) overuse of cheap puns throughout the night? Either way, critics online began to eat Harris’s performance alive. Critics mainly commented on the comedic material-or the lack of, in this case.
The night began with the Live from the Red Carpet event, which aired an hour before the Academy Awards started. This year’s Red Carpet event was hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana Rancic and consisted of several interviews of celebrities by the hosts. From the exciting talk of new releases to the overall excitement of the night, the event was truly a memorable one for those who watched.
Before walking down the red carpet, actress Reese Witherspoon tweeted “#Askhermore” in reference to asking female celebrities more on the red carpet than just what designer she’s wearing. It soon became a trending topic on Twitter that evening.
The Academy Awards truly started with an opening performance from Harris, Anna Kendrick and Jack Black with a song on moving pictures. Other performers that night consisted of Rita Ora, Tim McGraw, Lady Gaga, Maroon Five, and three others. Lupita Nyong’o was the first presenter of the night for the “Best Supporting Actor” award, which went to J.K. Simmons for his role as Terence Fletcher in Whiplash. This was Simmons’ first nomination and his first win at the Academy Awards.
Awards of the night ranged from “Best Actor in a Leading Role” to “Best Directing” to “Best Visual Effects”. Overall there were twenty-four awards, all of which the Academy awarded to those who they felt deserved it the most. All the nominees had to meet specific requirements in order to receive their nominations and were then judged by a panel of voters who voted for who they felt deserved it the most.
Approximately 60 films were nominated for awards as well as 20 actors and actresses. Films ranged from The Grand Budapest Hotel, to American Sniper, to Big Hero 6 and many more films that came out throughout 2014. There were also ten short films and five foreign films nominated for awards as well.
Overall, it may not have been as big of a success as last year, but the 87th annual Academy Awards was still an important and memorable night for all of the winners, nominees, and stars that attended.
