Oscars nominations 2010

Surprise, surprise: Avatar and The Hurt Locker are set to duke it out for the Oscars. Both have secured nine nominations.

Unsuprisingly, Avatar’s nods lean heavily towards the technical; the only big awards it is up for are Best Picture and Best Director. The Hurt Locker also scores in both categories, but as well as a fistful of technical nods, it has also garnered recognition for its script and for Jeremy Renner as its hero.

Next up is a surprise: Inglorious Basterds with eight noms, including Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay. Christoph Waltz secured his nom for Best Supporting Actor – and must be considered the outstanding favourite for that category.

Up In The Air and Precious both picked up six noms, with no real surprises, although it’s heartening to see Jason Reitman nominated for his directing as well as his script for Up In The Air.

Up scored five noms, intriguingly being listed for both Best Picture and Best Animated Picture. What chance of it scooping both?

Three films picked up four noms: Nine, District 9 and Star Trek. With the expanded Best Picture list (10 as opposed to five), the latter was thought to have a good chance of scoring in that category, but instead it’s got to settle for technical nods. Nine, the greatest underperformer both critically and financially (at least against expectations), managed to ensnare nods in the technical categories and for Penelope Cruz (Best Supporting Actress); Cruz must now be considered an Oscar darling like Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet – whatever she does, she will get nominated.

District 9’s success is possibly the most unexpected, its four nods being a pair of technicals, plus Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.

An Education scored three noms: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film and Best Actress for its break-out star Carey Mulligan. Another ‘female’ movie doing well is The Blind Side. Now in its 11th week on release (the only film with better legs is Avatar), its BO total in the US stands at nearly $238m, which makes it the most successful film in the US led by an actress. The Blind Side is shortlisted for Best Picture and Best Actress for Sandra Bullock.

Notable stat: only half of the Best Picture nominees can be seen on screen now; the other half are already on DVD.

So, predictions… Avatar probably will win Best Film (not that I want it to, you understand); Kathryn Bigelow should grab Best Director for The Hurt Locker (and thus become the first woman to win in that category); Best Actor favourite must be Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart, but Morgan Freeman as Mandela in Invictus looms large; Best Actress will surely be Bullock, although her luminescent performance in An Education makes Carey Mulligan a good outside bet; Waltz will, er, waltz off with Best Supporting Actor; and Best Supporting Actress will see a three-way tussle between Cruz, Vera Farmiga for Up In The Air, and (inevitably) Mo’Nique in Precious (although the film’s harrowing nature may harm it in all categories).

The winners will be announced on 7 March.