The fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King emerged on Tuesday as the hot Oscar favourite as it earned 11 nominations for the coveted Academy Awards.
The film is the final part of a $300-million trilogy based on the classic adventure books by JRR Tolkien.
Other films with multiple nominations are Peter Weir’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Sofia Copolla’s Lost in Translation and Clint Eastwood’s gritty drama Mystic River. They were named as best-picture nominees together with Lord of the Rings and Seabiscuit.
Nominations for best lead actor include Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Sean Penn in Mystic River and Jude Law in Cold Mountain.
Nominations for best lead actress include South African Charlize Theron in Monster, Diane Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give and Naomi Watts in 21 Grams.
The animated film Finding Nemo was nominated for best animated feature, best sound editing and best original screenplay.
The films up for best directing are City of God (Katia Lund and Fernando Mereilles), The Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson), Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola), Master and Commander (Peter Weir) and Mystic River (Clint Eastwood).
The awards will be presented in the usual star-studded ceremony in Hollywood on February 29.
The much-anticipated nominees’ announcement was made at 5.30am local time by actress Sigourney Weaver and Frank Pierson, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Full nominee list: Oscar nominees
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