Over iets meer dan een maand, 25 februari om precies te zijn, worden voor de 79e keer de Academy Awards uitgereikt, in de volksmond beter bekend als de Oscars. De Academy heeft inmiddels bekend gemaakt wie er genomineerd zijn in de diverse categorieën, met als uitsteker de Broadway–verfilming Dreamgirls, die kans maakt op 8 gouden beeldjes, maar verrassend genoeg niet op die voor de Beste Film. De film wordt op de voet gevolgd door The Departed en The Queen, met respectievelijk 7 en 6 nominaties.

Paul Verhoeven was met Zwartboek nog doorgedrongen tot de shortlist van 9 films voor de Beste Buitenlandse Film, maar helaas is hij in de laatste ronde afgevallen.

De volledige lijst met nominaties:

Best Film:

• Babel
• The Departed
• Letters From Iwo Jima
• Little Miss Sunshine
• The Queen

Best Actor

• Leonardo DiCaprio – Blood Diamond
• Ryan Gosling – Half Nelson
• Peter O'Toole – Venus
• Will Smith – The Pursuit of Happyness
• Forest Whitaker – Last King of Scotland

Best Actress

• Penelope Cruz – Volver
• Judi Dench – Notes on a Scandal
• Helen Mirren – The Queen
• Meryl Streep – The Devil Wears Prada
• Kate Winslet – Little Children

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin – Little Miss Sunshine
• Jackie Earle Haley – Little Children
• Djimon Hounsou – Blood Diamond
• Eddie Murphy – Dream Girls
• Mark Wahlberg – The Departed

Best Supporting Actress

• Rinko Kikuchi – Babel
• Cate Blanchett – Notes on a Sandal
• Abigail Breslin – Little Miss Sunshine
• Jennifer Hudson – Dream Girls
• Adriana Barraza – Babel

Best Director

• Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel
• Martin Scorsese – The Departed
• Clint Eastwood – Letters From Iwo jima
• Stephen Frears – The Queen
• Paul Greengrass – United 93

Best Original Screenplay

• Babel
• Letters From Iwo Jima
• Little Miss Sunshine
• Pan's Labyrinth
• The Queen

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Borat
• Children of Men
• The Departed
• Little Children
• Notes on a Scandal

Best Animated Film

• Cars
• Happy Feet
• Monster House

Best Documentary Feature

• Deliver Us From Evil
• An Inconvenient Truth
• Iraq in Fragments
• Jesus Camp
• My Country, My Country

Best Documentary Short Subject

• The Blood of Yingzhou District
• Recycled Life
• Rehearsing a Dream
• Two Hands

Best Foreign Language Film

• After the Wedding
• Days of Glory (Indigènes)
• The Lives of Others
• Pan's Labyrinth
• Water

Achievement in Cinematography

• The Black Dahlia
• Children of Men
• The Illusionist
• Pan's Labyrinth
• The Prestige

Achievement in Costume Design

• Curse of the Golden Flower
• The Devil Wears Prada
• Dreamgirls
• Marie Antoinette
• The Queen

Achievement in Art Direction

• Dreamgirls
• The Good Shepherd
• Pan's Labyrinth
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• The Prestige

Achievement in Film Editing

• Babel
• Blood Diamond
• Children of Men
• The Departed
• United 93

Achievement in Makeup

• Apocalypto
• Click
• Pan's Labyrinth

Best Original Score

• Babel
• The Good German
• Notes on a Scandal
• Pan's Labyrinth
• The Queen

Best Original Song

• "I Need To Wake Up" – An Inconvenient Truth
• "Listen" – Dreamgirls
• "Love You I Do" – Dreamgirls
• "Our Town" – Cars
• "Patience" – Dreamgirls

Best Animated Short Film

• The Danish Poet
• Lifted
• The Little Matchgirl
• Maestro
• No Time For Nuts

Best Live Action Short Film

• Binta and The Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)
• Éramos Pocos (One Too Many)
• Helmer & Son
• The Saviour
• West Bank Story

Achievement in Sound Editing

• Apocalypto
• Blood Diamond
• Flags of Our Fathers
• Letters From Iwo Jima
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Achievement in Sound Mixing

• Apocalypto
• Blood Diamond
• Dreamgirls
• Flags of Our Fathers
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Achievement in Visual Effects

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Poseidon
• Superman Returns