The Oscar Academy unveiled its annual shortlist before the formal nominations

The Oscars generate a fevered level of interest and anticipation. Hundreds of millions of movie fans tune in to witness the dazzling ceremony and hear who will receive the greatest accolades in cinema.

This time too, the awards have gained the attention of the public as they released the shortlisted nominees on Tuesday. Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Ariana Grande are all in the running for the best original song Oscar. However, the French shocker “Titane” did not make the list for the best foreign picture.

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Beyonce’s ballad “Be Alive,” written for the tennis film “King Richard,” about Serena and Venus Williams’ father (played by Will Smith), was among a list of 15 songs that will be narrowed down to a final five before the Oscars in March.

She’ll be competing against her husband, Jay-Z, who produced the Netflix Western “The Harder They Fall” and collaborated with Kid Cudi on the song “Guns Go Bang” from the film.

Grande features in the parody “Don’t Look Up,” in which her pop star character sings “Just Look Up” to plead with the audience to pay attention to the approaching threat of a comet crashing onto Earth.

The 007 theme tune “No Time To Die” by Billie Eilish was also included on the list.

So did “Dos Oruguitas” from Disney’s animated feature “Encanto,” a song written by “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who only needs an Oscar to complete the coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) collection of accolades.

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From a pool of 92 films, fifteen nominees for the Academy Award for best international feature film were announced.

France has the most foreign film nominations of any country in Oscar history. But it will sit out this year after Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or-winning body horror “Titane” failed to make the cut.

Paolo Sorrentino’s coming-of-age drama “The Hand of God” (Italy) and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” (Japan), based on a Haruki Murakami short story, are among the frontrunners on the list.

With morality drama “A Hero,” Iran’s Asghar Farhadi joins a rare group of auteurs who have won numerous foreign film Oscars earlier with “A Separation” and “The Salesman.”

“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom,” a humorous drama about a reluctant young teacher recruited to work in the world’s most secluded school, has brought Bhutan one step closer to its first Oscar nomination.

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Denmark, which won the foreign picture Oscar last year for “Another Round,” has a strong candidate in “Flee,” which follows a gay Afghan refugee on his treacherous trip to Europe.

The animated film was also named to the best documentary shortlist, which was announced on Tuesday.

Questlove’s “Summer of Soul,” about the massive but mostly overlooked “Black Woodstock” celebration that took place in 1969 Harlem, and “The Rescue,” about the headline-grabbing 2018 race to free a Thai soccer team trapped in a cave, also made the list.

The final list of Oscar nominations will be released in February, and the Oscars will be presented to the lucky few on March 27.