Fifteen Features Queue for a Visual Effects (VFX) Oscar

Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 15 films have been selected for consideration for Achievement in Visual Effects (VFX, and formerly known as special effects) for the 84th Academy Awards.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

    Captain America: The First Avenger
    Cowboys & Aliens
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
    Hugo
    Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
    Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
    Real Steel
    Rise of the Planet of the Apes
    Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
    Sucker Punch
    Super 8
    Thor
    Transformers: Dark of the Moon
    The Tree of Life
    X-Men: First Class

In early January, the members of the Academy's Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee, who selected the 15 films, will narrow the list to 10.

All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Thursday, January 19.  Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m., PT, in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater, and broadcast on ABC TV.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

I note that the press releases used to say "more than 200 countries," now their are more than 225? Is that splitting hairs, or what?