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Science-fiction epic Avatar and gritty Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker will battle for supremacy at the Oscars after topping nominations with nine nods each.
James Cameron's Avatar - the most expensive movie ever made and the highest grossing film of all time - picked up a slew of nominations, including best picture and best director.
Low-budget The Hurt Locker - directed by Cameron's ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow - also earned nine nods including best director, best picture, best actor and best original screenplay.
Bigelow is only the fourth woman ever nominated for directing and the first since Sofia Coppola, who received a nod for Lost in Translation in 2003. No woman director has ever won the Oscars' top prize.
However, The Hurt Locker, a tense thriller about a US army bomb disposal squad operating in Iraq, has emerged as the favourite to land the best picture prize when the 82nd Academy Awards are presented on March 7.
Although it has earned only $16 million at the box office - around 125 times less than Avatar - Bigelow's film has won a host of awards regarded as reliable indicators of likely Oscars success.
This year's best picture race was expanded to 10 films in a move analysts said was intended to boost television ratings for the awards show.
The nominees are ...
Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Disney/Pixar's Up
Up in the Air
Best Director
James Cameron - Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels - Precious
Jason Reitman - Up in the Air
Best Actor
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Best Actress
Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
