Science-fiction adventure Avatar and war movie The Hurt Locker are leading the pack in the 2010 Academy Award race, each receiving nine nominations, including best picture.
Other movies among the 10 nominees for best motion picture include Up In The Air, The Blind Side, Precious and District 9.
Rounding out the list of best film nominees were animated movie Up, A Serious Man, Inglourious Basterds and An Education.
It was a bleak day for Australian nominees as Abbie Cornish failed to win an Oscar nomination, but three other Australians scored an invite to next month’s Academy Awards ceremony.
Janet Patterson was nominated for best costume design, for her work in Jane Campion’s period drama Bright Star, and Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey were also nominated for live-action short film for their movie, Miracle Fish.
For the first time in more than a decade, Australian actors were shut out of the nomination list announced in Beverly Hills.
Cornish was considered Australia’s best chance among the actors for her performance in Bright Star.
Nominations for best actor in a film went to Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker).
Best actress nominees were Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia).
Oscar favourite Christoph Waltz leads the best supporting actor nominees for his role in Inglourious Basterds.
Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), Matt Damon (Invictus) and Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones) were the other nominees.
Penelope Cruz (Nine), Mo’Nique (Precious), Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga (Up In The Air), and Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart) are the best supporting actress nominations.
Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) will vie for the best director gong with her ex-husband, James Cameron (Avatar).
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Jason Reitman (Up In The Air) and Lee Daniels (Precious) complete the nominations list.
2009 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
