Moonlight, Arrival and Manchester By The Sea in the chasing pack.

Oscars 2017

The nominations for the 89th Academy Awards have been announced in Los Angeles and Lionsgate’s La La Land leads the way with 14 nods.

That equals the record shared by Titanic and All About Eve.

The lavish musical is nominated for best picture, best director (Damien Chazelle), best actress (Emma Stone) and best actor (Ryan Gosling).

It is one of nine films in the best picture category; it’s competing against Arrival; Fences; Hacksaw Ridge; Hell Or High Water; Hidden Figures; Lion; Manchester By The Sea and Moonlight.

Manchester By The Sea marks the first time a streaming service - Amazon Studios - has been nominated for best picture.

CLICK HERE for the full list of nominations.

Mel Gibson’s comeback is seemingly complete after he made the five-man best director shortlist for Hacksaw Ridge; he’s joined by Chazelle, Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By The Sea) and Denis Villeneuve (Arrival).

Nominations by numbers

  • 14 - La La Land
  • 8 - Arrival
  • 8 - Moonlight
  • 6 - Hacksaw Ridge
  • 6 - Manchester by the sea
  • 6 - Lion
  • 4 - Fences
  • 4 - Hell Or High Water
  • 3 - Hidden Figures

Actor nominations

Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea) will be the favourite for best actor after winning the Golden Globe earlier this year. He goes up against Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge), Ryan Gosling (La La Land), Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic) and Denzel Washington (Fences).

Meryl Streep received her 20th Oscar nomination in the best actress category, which appears more open, for Florence Foster Jenkins. She’s up against Isabelle Huppert (Elle), Ruth Negga (Loving), Natalie Portman (Jackie) and Stone (La La Land).

In the best supporting actress list, three black actors have been nominated in the same category for the first time ever. Viola Davis, the strong favourite (for Fences), competes against Naomie Harris (Moonlight), Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures), Michelle Williams (Manchester By the Sea) and Nicole Kidman (Lion).

Mahershala Ali will be well fancied to win best supporting actor for Moonlight. He’s joined by Jeff Bridges (Hell Or High Water), Dev Patel (Lion), Lucas Hedges (Manchester By The Sea) and Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals) in the category.

Foreign language and animated feature

Best animated feature is especially strong this year, featuring a mix of critically acclaimed foreign films - My Life As A Zucchini and The Red Turtle, another strong effort from Laika - Kubo And The Two Strings, and big budget Disney blockbusters Moana and Zootopia.

For best foreign language film, Tanna marks the first time an Australian film has been nominated in the category. It’s up against Toni Erdmann (Germany), The Salesman (Iran), Land of Mine (Denmark) and A Man Called Ove (Sweden), which also got a nod for makeup and hairstyling.  

The 2017 Academy Awards will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on Sunday, February 26.

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