With just 10 days to go before cinema's biggest night of the year, the 50 golden Oscar statuettes that will go to this year's winners arrived in Hollywood today.
The 50 "golden guys" arrived in Los Angeles from Chicago where they were cast, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said.

The statuettes, which will be presented at a glittering ceremony at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on February 30 (AEDT), will go on display in the adjoining Hollywood and Highland complex until the day before the big show.

The trophies form part of an exhibition mounted by the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

"The exhibition in Chicago has received an overwhelming response from the public, so we thought: Why not put the Oscars on display here in Los Angeles?" Academy president Frank Pierson said.

"If the positive reaction continues, we will seriously consider taking Oscar on tour next year."

Fans hoping for a chance of standing on the red carpet this year have been left disappointed, though, after the Academy decided not to open applications for seats in the public bleachers.

However, they had good reason, instead inviting back those that missed out last year after a scaling back of the ceremony because of the "world situation and impending war in Iraq".

"It seemed only fair to invite all of the fans who had been scheduled to sit in the bleacher section last year to use those seats in the bleachers outside this year," a statement read.

Source: Press Release