"The Revenant" and "Mad Max: Fury Road" paved the way in nominations for the 88th Academy Awards, which were announced on Thursday

One of the biggest storylines emerging from the Academy Awards, however, focuses on who was not nominated. The Academy once again failed to include actors of color in its nominations, receiving backlash once again from multiple organizations. It also failed to recognize multiple Latinos who could have easily been nominated. Last year the Academy was severely criticized for its lack of diversity, and as a result, a diversity initiative was announced.

The following is a look at each category.

Best Picture

As expected “Spotlight,” “The Revenant,” “The Big Short' and “Mad Max: Fury Road” were nominated for Best Picture. However, there were multiple films that were on the fringe line that got nominated including “The Martian,” “Room,” “Brooklyn” and "Bridge of Spies.” Additionally, it was also unpredictable how many films would get nominated. Last year was the first time that eight films were nominated since the Academy implemented the rule that five to 10 films could get nominated. The Academy once again picked eight films for Best Picture.

Among the snubbed films was “Carol,’ which was the first time since 2008 that the Weinstein Company did not get nominated for Best Picture. The film also represents one of the first times that a film leads both the BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations but fails to garner a nomination for the big prize.

Other films that missed out on the nomination included “Straight Outta Compton,” “Steve Jobs,” “Joy” and “The Danish Girl.”

One of the biggest surprises in this category was the love that both “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “The Revenant” got as “Mad Max” obtained 10 nominations and “The Revenant” led the way with 12 nominations.

Best Director

As expected Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”), George Miller (“Mad Max: Fury Road”) and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“The Revenant’) were nominated. However, the last two spots were always a mystery. Adam McKay followed his Directors Guild of America and BAFTA nomination for (“The Big Short”) while Lenny Abrahamson surprised for work on “Room.”

However, the inclusion of these two left out two of the biggest contenders. Todd Haynes was snubbed for his work on “Carol” as well as Ridley Scott for “The Martian.” Steven Spielberg was also snubbed for his film “Bridge of Spies.”

Best Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Revenant”), Eddie Redmayne (“The Danish Girl”) and Michael Fassbender (“Steve Jobs”) were nominated as expected while Bryan Cranston also continued his strong presence for “Trumbo.” Matt Damon followed his Golden Globe win for “The Martian” as well and took out heavy weights Michael Caine for “Youth,” Johnny Depp for “Black Mass” and Paul Dano for “Love and Mercy.”

Other actors who could have been nominated included Golden Globe nominee Will Smith for "Concussion" and Michael B. Jordan for "Creed."

Best Actress

As expected Cate Blanchett (“Carol”), Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”) and Brie Larson (“Room”) were nominated. These three actresses were locks from the beginning of the race but it was never secure who would fill out the competition.

For many pundits Alicia Vikander was likely land a Best Actress nomination for “The Danish Girl.” The BAFTA and the Golden Globe placed her in the Best Actress race and pundits believed that Academy would do the same. This is because in 2008 the Academy did not follow suit with Kate Winslet’s Best Supporting Actress campaign for “The Reader.” Instead they placed her in the Lead Actress race.

With Vikander out of the Actress race Jennifer Lawrence was easily nominated for “Joy” while Charlotte Rampling obtained her first nomination at the Academy Awards for “45 Years.”

Best Supporting Actress

It was probably one of the toughest races to predict because there was a plethora of performances to choose from. Kate Winslet (“Steve Jobs”) and Rooney Mara (“Carol”) were the only locked candidates as they had obtained nominations at all key awards.

With Vikander out of the Best Actress race, the Academy opted to place her in the Best Supporting Actress category for “the Danish Girl.” This prevented her from getting the nomination for “Ex Machina.”

The last two spots went to Rachel McAdams for “Spotlight” and Jennifer Jason Leigh for “The Hateful Eight."

Among the actresses that were snubbed included Kristen Stewart for “Clouds of Sils Maria,” Jane Fonda for “Youth” and Helen Mirren for “Trumbo.” The category, which could have easily been surprising, followed the Golden Globes and the BAFTA in many ways.

Best Supporting Actor

Mark Rylance and Sylvester Stallone are easily the front-runners in this category as they obtained nominations. Mark Ruffalo provided some strength to “Spotlight” while Christian Bale obtained his third nomination for “The Big Short.”

The biggest surprise in the category was Tom Hardy, which obtained his first nomination for “The Revenant.”

However, this list of actors showcased a lack of diversity in a category that was bloated. Idris Elba was snubbed for his work on “Beasts of No Nation” while Benicio del Toro was snubbed for “Sicario.” Oscar Isaac was another Latino who missed out for his work in "Ex Machina." Other snubs included Jacob Tremblay for “Room,” Michael Shannon for “99 Homes” and Paul Dano for “Love and Mercy.”

Michael Keaton was also snubbed for his work on “Spotlight," and none of the cast of “The Hateful Eight” managed to get a nomination. Having the most diversity in this race the Academy opted for yet another all white line up.

Best Foreign Film

“Son of Saul” leads the competition in this category with “Mustang” among the nominees. Both Hungary and France’s film are the top two contenders to win the category. However Latin America had some good news as Colombia obtained its first nomination for the film “Embrace of the Serpent.” The film was joined by Jordan’s “Theeb” and Denmark’s “A War.”

Hungary’s contender is likely to win but the film only obtained one nomination, which was a surprise as most believed it would get more than one nomination.

Best Animated Film

“Inside Out” and “Anomalisa” led as expected but the category offered a number of surprises as usual. Neither “The Peanuts Movie” nor “The Good Dinosaur” were nominated. Instead “Shawn the Sheep Movie” surprised and was joined by two relatively unknown films. These included Boy and the World” and “When Marnie Was There.”

Complete List of Nominees:

Best motion picture of the year:

"The Big Short"
"Bridge of Spies"
"Brooklyn"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Martian"
"The Revenant"
"Room"
"Spotlight"

Performance by an actor in a leading role:
Bryan Cranston in "Trumbo"
Matt Damon in "The Martian"
Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant"
Michael Fassbender in "Steve Jobs"
Eddie Redmayne in "The Danish Girl"

Performance by an actress in a leading role:
Cate Blanchett in "Carol"
Brie Larson in "Room"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Joy"
Charlotte Rampling in "45 Years"
Saoirse Ronan in "Brooklyn"

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Christian Bale in "The Big Short"
Tom Hardy in "The Revenant"
Mark Ruffalo in "Spotlight"
Mark Rylance in "Bridge of Spies"
Sylvester Stallone in "Creed"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Jennifer Jason Leigh in "The Hateful Eight"
Rooney Mara in "Carol"
Rachel McAdams in "Spotlight"
Alicia Vikander in "The Danish Girl"
Kate Winslet in "Steve Jobs"

Achievement in directing:
"The Big Short" Adam McKay
"Mad Max: Fury Road" George Miller
"The Revenant" Alejandro G. Iñárritu
"Room" Lenny Abrahamson
"Spotlight" Tom McCarthy

Adapted screenplay:
"The Big Short" Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
"Brooklyn" Screenplay by Nick Hornby
"Carol" Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy
"The Martian" Screenplay by Drew Goddard
"Room" Screenplay by Emma Donoghue

Original screenplay:
"Bridge of Spies" Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
"Ex Machina" Written by Alex Garland
"Inside Out" Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
"Spotlight" Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy
"Straight Outta Compton" Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

Best animated feature film of the year:
"Anomalisa" Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran
"Boy and the World" Alê Abreu
"Inside Out" Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
"Shaun the Sheep Movie" Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
"When Marnie Was There" Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura

Best documentary feature:
"Amy" Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees
"Cartel Land" Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin
"The Look of Silence" Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
"What Happened, Miss Simone?" Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes
"Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom" Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor

Best foreign language film of the year:
"Embrace of the Serpent" Colombia
"Mustang" France
"Son of Saul" Hungary
"Theeb" Jordan
"A War" Denmark

Achievement in cinematography:
"Carol" Ed Lachman
"The Hateful Eight" Robert Richardson
"Mad Max: Fury Road" John Seale
"The Revenant" Emmanuel Lubezki
"Sicario" Roger Deakins

Achievement in costume design:
"Carol" Sandy Powell
"Cinderella" Sandy Powell
"The Danish Girl" Paco Delgado
"Mad Max: Fury Road" Jenny Beavan
"The Revenant" Jacqueline West

Best documentary short subject:
"Body Team 12" David Darg and Bryn Mooser
"Chau, beyond the Lines" Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck
"Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah" Adam Benzine
"A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
"Last Day of Freedom" Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

Achievement in film editing:
"The Big Short" Hank Corwin
"Mad Max: Fury Road" Margaret Sixel
"The Revenant" Stephen Mirrione
"Spotlight" Tom McArdle
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling:
"Mad Max: Fury Road" Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
"The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared" Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
"The Revenant" Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score):
"Bridge of Spies" Thomas Newman
"Carol" Carter Burwell
"The Hateful Eight" Ennio Morricone
"Sicario" Jóhann Jóhannsson
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" John Williams

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song):
"Earned It" from "Fifty Shades of Grey"
Music and Lyric by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio
"Manta Ray" from "Racing Extinction"
Music by J. Ralph and Lyric by Antony Hegarty
"Simple Song #3" from "Youth"
Music and Lyric by David Lang
"Til It Happens To You" from "The Hunting Ground"
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga
"Writing's On The Wall" from "Spectre"
Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith

Achievement in production design:
"Bridge of Spies" Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo and Bernhard Henrich
"The Danish Girl" Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Michael Standish
"Mad Max: Fury Road" Production Design: Colin Gibson; Set Decoration: Lisa Thompson
"The Martian" Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Celia Bobak
"The Revenant" Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Hamish Purdy

Best animated short film:
"Bear Story" Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
"Prologue" Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton
"Sanjay's Super Team" Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle
"We Can't Live without Cosmos" Konstantin Bronzit
"World of Tomorrow" Don Hertzfeldt

Best live action short film:
"Ave Maria" Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont
"Day One" Henry Hughes
"Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)" Patrick Vollrath
"Shok" Jamie Donoughue
"Stutterer" Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

Achievement in sound editing:
"Mad Max: Fury Road" Mark Mangini and David White
"The Martian" Oliver Tarney
"The Revenant" Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender
"Sicario" Alan Robert Murray
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Matthew Wood and David Acord

Achievement in sound mixing:
"Bridge of Spies" Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin
"Mad Max: Fury Road" Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo
"The Martian" Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth
"The Revenant" Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

Achievement in visual effects:
"Ex Machina" Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
"Mad Max: Fury Road" Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams
"The Martian" Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner
"The Revenant" Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould