With activities surrounding the 78th Academy Awards gaining increased interest each day now, I thought ReelTalk visitors might be interested in the following recent press release from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California:

Prior to being placed in the excited hands of Oscar winners at the 78th Academy Awards, this year's crop of coveted Oscar statuettes will be showcased in a public display at the Hollywood and Highland Center beginning on Friday, February 10.

The exhibition, “Meet the Oscars: The 50 Golden Statuettes,” will be free and open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday on the third level of Hollywood & Highland.

Featuring 50 statuettes as well as other Academy Award-related displays, guests will have the opportunity to hold an Oscar as well as visit a gallery of photographs featuring winners from previous ceremonies. This year's limited edition, vintage commemorative posters, "Black Tuxedo," and "White Gloves," also will be available for purchase.

After the close of the exhibition on March 3, the Oscars, under heavy security, will march down the red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard to the Kodak Theatre where they will be handed out during the Awards Presentation on Sunday, March 5.

The Academy will not know how many statuettes will be awarded until the envelopes are opened on Oscar Night® because there can be ties as well as variable numbers of winners in some categories.

Weighing in at eight-and-a-half pounds, each statuette is thirteen-and-a-half inches tall and is made of gold-plated britannium, a metal alloy. The statuettes, a new crop handmade each year by R.S. Owens and Company in Chicago, will arrive in Los Angeles on Thursday, February 2, on "Oscar 1," the special United Airlines “Flight of the Oscars.”

"Meet the Oscars," will be presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in cooperation with Hollywood & Highland Center, home of the Kodak Theatre. For more information about the exhibition, call 310-247-3600.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements for 2005 will be presented on March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PST.

(Photo: The Oscar statuette display at Hollywood & Highland in 2004. Courtesy of AMPAS®. All rights reserved.)