OSCAR(R) HOST SETH MACFARLANE JOINS EMMA STONE TO ANNOUNCE OSCAR NOMINATIONS

Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards(R) will be announced by the show's host, Seth MacFarlane, and actress Emma Stone on Thursday, January 10. This will be the first time since 1972 that an Oscar show host has participated in the nominations announcement.

MacFarlane and Stone will unveil the nominations at a 5:30 a.m., PT news conference at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, where hundreds of media representatives from around the world will be gathered.

Since the first nominations announcement in 1964, the Academy president has been joined by one or more co-announcers at the event. This year the Academy will break with tradition when MacFarlane, who was named Oscar show host in October, joins Stone on Oscar nominations morning. Charlton Heston (1972) was the only other show host to participate in the nominations announcement.

Stone starred in the 2011 Best Picture nominee "The Help" and the summer release "The Amazing Spider-Man." Other film credits include "Superbad," "Zombieland," "Easy A" and "Crazy, Stupid, Love." In addition she can be seen in "Gangster Squad" later this month, as well as in "The Croods," due out in March.

Nominations information for all categories will be distributed to news media in attendance and via the Internet on the official Academy Awards website, www.oscar.com.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre(TM) at Hollywood & Highland Center(R), and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.