1.
Shockingly, the Oscars red carpet isn’t even a traditional “red”; it’s actually more of a burgundy.
2.
Each nominee is given a complimentary pair of tickets, but additional tickets cost between $150-$1,000.
4.
All 25 nominees from the top individual categories receive a six-figure gift bag with several luxury items — this year’s includes skincare products from Miage, luggage and flip-flops from Havaianas, hair restoration services from Bauman Medical, a silk pillowcase from Blush Silks, and a travel pillow from PETA.
5.
The Oscar statuettes are made of solid bronze and plated in 24-karat gold. They’re also 13.5 inches tall and weigh 8.5 pounds.
6.
Immediately after winners receive their Oscar, they must sign an agreement that states if they ever wish to sell their statuette, they must offer it to the Academy first for $1.
7.
Michael Jackson actually holds the record for buying the most expensive Oscar statuette where he paid $1.5M for David O. Selznick’s Best Picture award for Gone with the Wind. Unfortunately, the Oscar statuette has been missing since Jackson’s death in 2009.
9.
There are 735 bleacher seats available for fans to watch celebrities walk the red carpet — fans are chosen through lottery, promotions, contests, and are sometimes friends and family members of attendees.
10.
Back in 2000, Angelina Jolie got locked out of the ceremony the same year she won Best Supporting Actress.
11.
The Academy Awards nominees and winners are selected by the members of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, which has more than 6,000 members.
12.
When voting for the Academy Award nominees, people don’t just vote for their favorite, they actually submit a list of their top five favorites ranked.
13.
While there’s no cash prize for winning an Oscar, each Best Actor and Best Actress winner gets an estimated 20% boost on their pay for the next film.
14.
Until the envelopes are opened on stage, only two people from PricewaterhouseCoopers (the company that tallies the votes) actually know who the winners are.
15.
Walt Disney holds the record for most Oscars ever won; he received 26 Academy Awards during his lifetime.
16.
The Dolby Theater has hosted the Oscars since 2001, and when you first walk in, all the Best Picture winners are engraved on the walls — there are even blank spots for future winners all the way until 2071.
17.
Katharine Hepburn is the actor who currently holds the record for most Oscars won — she won Best Actress in 1934, 1968, 1969, and 1982.
18.
The night before the ceremony, there’s a dress rehearsal where presenters, performers, and hosts show up and practice the entire awards show with stand-in winners, fake winners’ envelopes, and plaster replicas of the statuettes.
19.
For rehearsal purposes, fake winners’ envelopes are made for every single nominee, and the presenter doesn’t know which one they’ll get to read at the rehearsal.
21.
The seating arrangements are made with specific camera moments in mind. Directors and actors are often seated so other potential winners from the same movie will pass by them on the way to the stage.
22.
There’s also a seating area called “the mocked ones” that’s saved for people who’ve been nominated several times but have yet to win.
23.
Seat fillers are required to sign NDAs and basically be as low-key as possible, in an effort to draw little to no attention to themselves — they aren’t allowed to talk to the celebrities unless spoken to.
24.
There are nearly 200 award nameplates made for every nominee’s name to factor in all the potential winners.