The nominations for the 88th Academy Awards were announced early Thursday morning, and “The Revenant” led the pack by being recognized in 12 categories, giving director Alejandro G. Iñárritu a chance to dominate the Oscars for a second year in a row.
Fox, the studio behind the wilderness survival tale, dominated the competition with a total of 20 nominations, including seven for “The Martian” and one for “Joy.” Disney ranked second in total nominations with 14, largely in part to the six nominations for Steven Spielberg‘s Cold War drama “Bridge of Spies” and 5 nominations for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in technical categories and Best Original Score.
“The Revenant,” as many expected, garnered star Leonardo DiCaprio his fourth Oscar nomination in the Best Actor category and his sixth overall. If he beats out Bryan Cranston (“Trumbo”), Matt Damon (“The Martian”), Michael Fassbender (“Steve Jobs“) and Eddie Redmayne (“The Danish Girl”), it would be his first win. Meanwhile, Tom Hardy — who plays the frontiersman DiCaprio is after in “The Revenant” — secured his very first Oscar nomination, in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Hardy’s first year as a nominee will be even more memorable, and a tough act to follow, since “Mad Max: Fury Road” is the second-most nominated film with inclusion in 10 categories. Hardy took over the title role from Mel Gibson in George Miller‘s Best Picture nominee, which also earned the Australian filmmaker his first Best Director nod.
The action flick, which is part of a genre rarely recognized by the Academy, also helped Warner Bros. fall behind Fox and Disney in number of nominations with 11, including Sylvester Stallone‘s Best Supporting Actor nod for his portrayal of an aging Rocky Balboa in “Creed.”
“Spotlight,” “Carol” and “Bridge of Spies” are tied with six nominations each, while director Adam McKay — the guy behind a number of Will Ferrell movies, including “Anchorman” — made his first big splash at the Oscars with the Wall Street drama “The Big Short” being nominated in five categories, including Best Director.
This was a noteworthy year for independent film distributor A24, which racked up seven nominations, including a Best Picture nod for “Room” and a Best Actress nomination for star Brie Larson.
Take a look at all of the numbers below.
Nominations by Film:
“The Revenant”: 12
“Mad Max: Fury Road”: 10
“The Martian”: 7
“Bridge of Spies”: 6
“Carol”: 6
“Spotlight”: 6
“The Big Short”: 5
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”: 5
“The Danish Girl”: 4
“Room”: 4
“Brooklyn”: 3
“The Hateful Eight”: 3
“Sicario”: 3
“Ex Machina”: 2
“Inside Out”: 2
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“Amy”: 1
“Anomalisa”: 1
“Boy and the World”: 1
“Cartel Land”: 1
“Cinderella”: 1
“Creed”: 1
“Embrace of the Serpent”: 1
“Fifty Shades of Grey”: 1
“45 Years”: 1
“The Hunting Ground”: 1
“Joy”: 1
“The Look of Silence”: 1
“Mustang”: 1
“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared”: 1
“Racing Extinction”: 1
“Shaun the Sheep Movie”: 1
“Son of Saul”: 1
“Spectre”: 1
“Straight Outta Compton”: 1
“Theeb”: 1
“Trumbo”: 1
“A War”: 1
“What Happened, Miss Simone?”: 1
“When Marnie Was There”: 1
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom: 1
“Youth”: 1
Nominations by Distributor:
Twentieth Century Fox: 20
Disney: 14
Warner Bros.: 11
A24: 7
The Weinstein Company: 9
Open Road Films: 6
Paramount: 6
Focus Features: 4
Fox Searchlight: 4
Lionsgate: 4
Universal: 4
GKIDS: 2
Netflix: 2
Abramorama: 1
Bleecker Street Media: 1
Cohen Media Group: 1
Drafthouse Films: 1
Film Movement: 1
Magnolia Pictures: 1
Music Box Films: 1
The Orchard: 1
Oscilloscope Pictures: 1
RADiUS-TWC: 1
Sony: 1
Sony Pictures Classics: 1
Sundance Selects: 1