OSCAR'S REVENGE: ANGRY MEN LEAD 2016 NOMINATIONS RACE

The Revenant and Mad Max Fury Road took boasting honours after the nominations for the 2016 Academy Awards were revealed at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles at 5.30am, PT.

Cheryl Boone, President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, actor John Krasinki and directors Ang Lee and Guillermo del Toro announced contenders for the 88^th annual Oscar feting, to be hosted by Chris Rock on February 28.

Alejandro G. Inaritu’s survival epic led the congested field with 12 nominations, including Film, Director, Best Actor for Leonardo Di Caprio and Best Supporting Actor for Tom Hardy. Mad Max Fury Road, Australian director George Miller’s long-in-gestation reboot of his iconic ‘road warrior’ anti-hero, earned 10 nominations.

The wide-open race for industry top honours led to a Best Picture category of eight nominees, with The Revenant and Mad Max Fury Road duking it out with The Martian (7 nominations); Spotlight (6); Bridge of Spies (6); The Big Short (5); Room (4); and, Brooklyn (3). Despite earning 6 nominations in key creative categories, Todd Haynes’ Carol was a Best Picture no-show, as was the year’s biggest commercial success, JJ Abram’s Star Wars The Force Awakens, the space opera up for John Williams' score and 4 tech categories.

20^th Century Fox earned studio bragging rights, with a whopping 26 nominations across all categories; that figure includes 6 shared with Disney, who took second spot with 14 mentions. Warner Bros (11), new indie powerhouse A24 (7) and Oscar veterans The Weinstein Company (9) were next in line, although Carol’s failure to secure a Best Picture nomination does mean brothers Harvey and Bob don’t have a dog in that fight for the first time since 2007.

The most prominent no-show is director Ridley Scott, shut-out of the Best Director race despite across-the-board attention for The Martian. Also feeling unloved would be Fury Road's Best Actress hopeful Charlize Theron; Paul Dano (Supporting Actor sure thing a month ago for Love & Mercy); Michael Keaton (early Actor front-runner for Spotlight); Aaron Sorkin (a Golden Globe winner and WGA nominee for Steve Jobs); Kristen Stewart (Supporting Actress Cesar winner for Clouds of Sils Maria); Jacob Tremblay (the breakout star of Room); and, Johnny Depp (denied a sentimental Best Actor slot for Black Mass). Others long in the face this morning are Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks (Bridge of Spies); director Alex Gibney (Scientology doco Going Clear); 99 Homes writer/director Ramin Bahrani and star Michael Shannon; Original Song hopeful ‘See You Again’, from Furious 7; the visual and sound effects supervisors on 2015's other survival epic, Baltasar Kormakur's Everest; and, the creative teams behind animated hits The Good Dinosaur and The Peanuts Movie.

The ‘Selma Snubbing’ of 2015 and the editorial outrage that followed did not seem to have any noticeable impact on Academy members; no African-American actors feature in any of the acting categories, despite the likes of Will Smith (Concussion), Michael B Jordan (Creed), Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation) and Samuel L Jackson (The Hateful Eight) all in the running, as were urban-themed pics Straight Outta Compton (1 nod, for Original Screenplay) and Tangerine.

The full list of 2016 Oscars nominees:

Best motion picture of the year:
The Big Short - Producers: Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
Bridge of Spies- Producers: Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger
Brooklyn - Producers: Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey
Mad Max Fury Road - Producers: Doug Mitchell and George Miller
The Martian - Producers: Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer and MarkHuffam
The Revenant - Producers: Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Inarritu, Mary Parent and Keith Redmon
Room - Producer: Ed Guiney
Spotlight: - Producers: Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon Faust

Performance by an actor in a leading role:
Bryan Cranston in “Trumbo”
Matt Damon in “The Martian”
Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Revenant”
Michael Fassbender in “Steve Jobs”
Eddie Redmayne in “The Danish Girl” 

Performance by an actress in a leading role:
Cate Blanchett in “Carol”
Brie Larson in “Room”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Joy”
Charlotte Rampling in “45 Years”
Saoirse Ronan in “Brooklyn”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Christian Bale in “The Big Short”
Tom Hardy in “The Revenant”
Mark Ruffalo in “Spotlight”
Mark Rylance in “Bridge of Spies”
Sylvester Stallone in “Creed” 

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Jennifer Jason Leigh in “The Hateful Eight”
Rooney Mara in “Carol”
Rachel McAdams in “Spotlight”
Alicia Vikander in “The Danish Girl”
Kate Winslet in “Steve Jobs” 

Achievement in directing:
“The Big Short” Adam McKay
“Mad Max: Fury Road” George Miller
“The Revenant” Alejandro G. Iñárritu
“Room” Lenny Abrahamson
“Spotlight” Tom McCarthy 

Adapted screenplay:
“The Big Short” Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
“Brooklyn” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“Carol” Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy
“The Martian” Screenplay by Drew Goddard
“Room” Screenplay by Emma Donoghue

Original screenplay:
“Bridge of Spies” Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
“Ex Machina” Written by Alex Garland
“Inside Out” Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen
“Spotlight” Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy
“Straight Outta Compton” Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

Best animated feature film of the year:
“Anomalisa” Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran
“Boy and the World” Alê Abreu
“Inside Out” Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera
“Shaun the Sheep Movie” Mark Burton and Richard Starzak
“When Marnie Was There” Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura 

Best documentary feature:
“Amy” Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees
“Cartel Land” Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin
“The Look of Silence” Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
“What Happened, Miss Simone?” Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor

Best foreign language film of the year:
“Embrace of the Serpent” Colombia
“Mustang” France
“Son of Saul” Hungary
“Theeb” Jordan
“A War” Denmark

Achievement in cinematography:
“Carol” Ed Lachman
“The Hateful Eight” Robert Richardson
“Mad Max: Fury Road” John Seale
“The Revenant” Emmanuel Lubezki
“Sicario” Roger Deakins 

Achievement in costume design:
“Carol” Sandy Powell
“Cinderella” Sandy Powell
“The Danish Girl” Paco Delgado
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Jenny Beavan
“The Revenant” Jacqueline West

Best documentary short subject:
“Body Team 12” David Darg and Bryn Mooser
“Chau, beyond the Lines” Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck
“Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah” Adam Benzine
“A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“Last Day of Freedom” Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

Achievement in film editing:
“The Big Short” Hank Corwin
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Margaret Sixel
“The Revenant” Stephen Mirrione
“Spotlight” Tom McArdle
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling:
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
“The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared” Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
“The Revenant” Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score):
“Bridge of Spies” Thomas Newman
“Carol” Carter Burwell
“The Hateful Eight” Ennio Morricone
“Sicario” Jóhann Jóhannsson
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” John Williams 

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song):
“Earned It” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”
Music and Lyric by Abel Tesfaye, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala Quenneville and Stephan Moccio
“Manta Ray” from “Racing Extinction”
Music by J. Ralph and Lyric by Antony Hegarty
“Simple Song #3” from “Youth”
Music and Lyric by David Lang
“Til It Happens To You” from “The Hunting Ground”
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga
“Writing’s On The Wall” from “Spectre”
Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith 

Achievement in production design:
“Bridge of Spies” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo and Bernhard Henrich
“The Danish Girl” Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Michael Standish
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Production Design: Colin Gibson; Set Decoration: Lisa Thompson
“The Martian” Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Celia Bobak
“The Revenant” Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Hamish Purdy 

Best animated short film:
“Bear Story” Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
“Prologue” Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton
“Sanjay’s Super Team” Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle
“We Can’t Live without Cosmos” Konstantin Bronzit
“World of Tomorrow” Don Hertzfeldt

Best live action short film:
“Ave Maria” Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont
“Day One” Henry Hughes
“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)” Patrick Vollrath
“Shok” Jamie Donoughue
“Stutterer” Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage 

Achievement in sound editing:
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Mark Mangini and David White
“The Martian” Oliver Tarney
“The Revenant” Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender
“Sicario” Alan Robert Murray
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Matthew Wood and David Acord

Achievement in sound mixing:
“Bridge of Spies” Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo
“The Martian” Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth
“The Revenant” Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson 

Achievement in visual effects:
“Ex Machina” Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
“Mad Max: Fury Road” Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams
“The Martian” Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner
“The Revenant” Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould