AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
Actress Anne Hathaway and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak announce the nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010, in Beverly Hills, Calif.
The awards, which take place March 7, extended the Best Pictures category from five films to 10 for the first time this year. Take a look and what films and actors are in the running for Oscars.
AP Photo/20th Century Fox
"Avatar," James Cameron's blockbuster film about aliens living on a lush, faraway planet and the human who joins up with them to battle against Earth, is among the 10 films nominated in the Best Picture category. The film also earned Cameron a Best Director nomination and received nine nominations overall.
Warner Bros.
Sandra Bullock earned her first Oscar nomination (in the Best Actress category) for her turn as real-life Memphis mother Leigh Anne Tuohy in "The Blind Side," which centers around a family that takes in a homeless teen who goes on to become a football star.
TriStar Pictures
This science fiction thriller, which takes place in South Africa in the 1980s, focuses on a group of aliens who land on Earth and are confined inside a government camp.
Sony Pictures Classics
In addition to the Best Picture nomination, "An Education" earned actress Carey Mulligan critical praise for her work and a Best Actress nomination. The film centers around a British schoolgirl in 1961, played by Mulligan, who gets caught up in an affair with an older man (Peter Sarsgaard).
Summit Entertainment
The explosive film, which focuses on the members U.S. Army's Bravo Company, an army unit that diffuses roadside bombs in Iraq, earned multiple nominations from the Academy. In addition to the Best Picture nod, actor Jeremy Renner, who plays Sergeant First Class William James, the leader of Bravo Company, earned a Best Actor nomination, while director Kathryn Bigelow was also honored with a Best Director nomination. The film is tied for nine nominations with "Avatar."
The Weinstien Company
Quentin Tarantino's World War II film focuses on two plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler - one planned by a French Jewish theater owner and another by a group of Jewish Allied soldiers who scalp Nazis. Tarantino also earned a Best Director nomination for the film, while actor Christoph Waltz received a Best Supporting Actor nod for his portrayal of German SS Colonel Hans Landa.
Best Picture: "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
Lionsgate
In addition to the Best Picture nod, this film about a pregnant, illiterate Harlem teen earned two of the leading ladies their first Oscar nominations. Gabourey Sidibe, in her feature film debut, earned a Best Actress nomination for playing the title character, while Mo'nique picked up a Best Supporting Actress nomination for portraying Precious' jealous, abusive mother. Director Lee Daniels was also nominated.
Focus Features
Joel and Ethan Cohen's film about an ordinary man trying to find balance and understanding in his life earned a Best Picture nomination. The film stars Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind and Sari Wagner Lennick.
Disney/Pixar
Only the second animated film in the history of the Academy Awards to earn a Best Picture nomination (1991's "Beauty and the Beast" was the first), "Up" centers around an elderly widower (voiced by Ed Asner) who flies his house down to South America using helium balloons, and a young boy (Jordan Nagai) who stows away for the ride. "Up" is also in the running for Best Animated Picture.
Paramount
Jason Reitman's film about a corporate downsizer and his travels received not only a Best Picture nod, but acting accolades for three of its stars. George Clooney, as the film's central character, received a Best Actor nomination, while Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick will go up against one another in the Best Supporting Actress category. Reitman also earned a Best Director nomination.
AP
Joining Jeremy Renner ("The Hurt Locker") and George Clooney ("Up in the Air") in the Best Actor category is Jeff Bridges, who is nominated for his work in "Crazy Heart." Bridges plays Bad Blake, an alcoholic and former country music star who starts a relationship with a journalist (Maggie Gyllenhaal).
AP
Firth earned an Oscar nomination for his work in Tom Ford's "A Single Man." He portrays George Falconer, a gay British college professor living in California in 1962. After his longtime partner (Matthew Goode) dies suddenly, the character plans to commit suicide and struggles to find meaning in his life. This is his first Academy Award nomination.
AP
Morgan Freeman earned a Best Actor nomination for playing Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood's "Invictus." The film centers around Mandela's life during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in Africa. His co-star, Matt Damon, earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination.
Helen Mirren joins Gabourey Sidibe ("Precious"), Sandra Bullock ("The Blind Side") and Carey Mulligan ("An Education") in the Best Actress category for her work in "The Last Station." She plays Sofya Tolstoy, the wife of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, in "The Last Station." Christopher Plummer, who played Tolstoy, also received a nomination.
AP
Meryl Streep finishes out the Best Actress category with her turn as chef Julia Child in "Julie & Julia." The film centers around Child's life in Paris during the 1950s, as she began her culinary career and wrote "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."
AP
Damon earned recognition in the Best Supporting Actor category for his work in "Invictus." Damon portrayed South African Francois Pienaar, captain of the Springboks rugby team, during the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
AP
Harrelson earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for "The Messenger," in which he plays Tony Stone, a U.S. Army captain who gives notice to the families of fallen soldiers. In the film, his partner is a sergeant (Ben Foster), recently returned from Iraq, who falls for a woman (Samantha Morton) to whom he delivered news of her husband's death.
AP
Plummer plays Russian writer Leo Tolstoy in "The Last Station," which follows the final year in the writer's life and tumultuous marriage. His work in the film earned him a Best Supporting Actor nod, his first Academy Award nomination. Helen Mirren, who plays his wife, earned a Best Actress nomination.
AP
In "The Lovely Bones," Stanley Tucci plays George Harvey, a middle-aged man living in Pennsylvania in the 1970s who brutally murders his neighbors' young daughter. The role earned him his first Academy Award nomination, in the Best Supporting Actor category.
AP
Playing SS Colonel Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" has earned the German actor a Best Supporting Actor nomination. In the film, Waltz's character is a brilliant but ruthless officer who seems to take extreme pleasure in the work he does during World War II. It's his first Academy Award nomination.
AP
Gyllenhaal joins the Best Supporting Actress list, which also includes Mo'Nique ("Precious"), Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga (both for "Up in the Air"). The actress portrayed Jean Craddock, a divorced journalist with a young son, who sparks a romance with a former country music star (fellow Oscar-nominee Jeff Briges) whom she interviews.
AP
The Spanish actress fills out the Best Supporting Actress category, earning a nomination for playing sultry mistress Carla in Rob Marshall's "Nine." She is the one member of the large ensemble cast, which also included Oscar winners Marion Cotillard, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Judi Dench, to earn recognition from the Academy.
