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The most famous palace in the world, the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX®, which opened in the silent movie era and is now the world’s biggest IMAX® theatre, is inviting the public to vote for their Oscar® picks, starting Monday.

Long known as one of Hollywood’s top tourist attractions, the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX® is also a working movie theatre that screens major IMAX® films (Gravity, Interstellar, American Sniper) up to 14 hours a day for thousands of local movie patrons.

In 2014, it scored the world’s largest IMAX® box office sales for Interstellar.

Ballots, featuring Best Motion Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories, will be handed out daily to visitors to the star-studded forecourt and film-goers thru Feb. 15. Results will be announced Feb. 17.

A select number of winners will receive annual movie passes and other gifts.

The historic TCL Chinese Theatre dates back to 1927 and its popular VIP Theatre Tour, which operates most days, up to four times an hour, has been expanded to include a number of Oscar® facts and trivia related to the historic movie venue.

Three Oscar® ceremonies, in 1944, 1945 and 1946, were held at the TCL Chinese Theatre (known then as Grauman’s®) and a great number of the 250-plus stars honored in handprint ceremonies are Oscar® winners.

On average, 20,000-plus people a day visit the TCL Chinese Theatre, one of the most visited locations in the world, drawing as many annual visitors as the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

Every year, over 40 movie premieres are held at the world-famous theatre and two of the top film festivals, the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival and the AFI Film Festival, are held here each year.

The TCL Chinese Theatre handprints ceremony is rich in tradition and provides the over two million people a year who visit the site an opportunity to experience the lore of Hollywood up close, for here lay the handprints and sometimes the footprints of Hollywood’s most notable talents.

Comedian Bob Hope even left an imprint of his legendary ski jump-shaped nose!

Unlike any other award in Hollywood, be it an Oscar® or a sidewalk ceremony, The TCL Chinese Theatre footprints tribute is the most selective of all, since over the course of nine decades, only 254 such honors have been presented.

Movie exhibitor Sid Grauman, who was one of Hollywood’s best known and most creative showmen, opened The Chinese in 1927 and launched the handprint ceremony a year later, as a promotion to advertise his many premieres and first run films.

Among the first handprints were those of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

Within a few years, the famous forecourt of handprints on Hollywood Boulevard was flourishing and has since become an international tourist destination.

Recent celebrants have included Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Ben Stiller, Mel Brooks, Robert De Niro and Sandra Bullock.

In any given year, The TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX® hosts numerous red carpet events and since it opened, it has hosted numerous world premieres, including those for internationally-acclaimed film franchises, such as Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Along with Disneyland and Universal Studios, the TCL Chinese Theatre is among Los Angeles’ top five tourist attractions, according to About.com.

About the TCL Chinese Theatres
Since 1927, The TCL Chinese Theatre has been the home of the most important, star powered red carpet movie premieres and special events, where Hollywood’s biggest and brightest talents have come to watch their movies. The most famous movie theatre on the globe is world-renowned for its unique forecourt of the stars, featuring cement hand and footprints of major movie stars, from Marilyn Monroe to Brad Pitt, and numerous stars from all eras of Hollywood. In 2013, the main theatre was relaunched as the world’s largest IMAX® theatre.

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