By Russ Britt
LOS ANGELES (Dow Jones) -- "The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button," the nearly three-hour tale of a man who ages backwards,
led the way among Oscar nominees Thursday, as the film captured 13
nods, including those for best picture and for Brad Pitt as best
actor in the title role.
Following close behind in nominations was "Slumdog Millionaire,"
which received 10 nods, including those for best picture, best
director for Danny Boyle, and nominations for two songs. "Slumdog
Millionaire" is the story of a contestant on a game show who wins
and then is accused of cheating.
On its heels in the nominations derby is "Milk," a film
biography of the first openly gay politician in California, San
Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk.
"Milk" received eight nominations, including best picture and
best actor for Sean Penn in the title role. Supporting actor Josh
Brolin, who plays Milk assassin Dan White, also received a nod.
Those three films, along with "The Reader" and "Frost/Nixon,"
will be vying for top honors when the 81st annual Academy Awards
are held Feb. 22 in Hollywood.
Absent from the best-picture list, however, was "The Dark
Knight," which received eight nominations in mostly technical
categories. The top box-office draw of the year, and a film that
received significant critical acclaim, was ignored in most top
categories except one.
The late Heath Ledger received a nomination for supporting actor
exactly one year after his death at the age of 28. Ledger won
acclaim last summer for a particularly unnerving portrayal of the
Joker, one of several villains in the "Batman" series.
"The Dark Knight" also received nominations for art direction,
cinematography, film editing and various other categories. The
film, a production of Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX) Warner Bros. unit,
took in $531 million in domestic receipts, enough to put it second
on the all-time list behind 1997's "Titanic." It also took in
nearly $1 billion worldwide, the fourth highest ever.
Ratings loss?
The academy may end up missing out on a significant ratings
boost for the Oscar telecast as a result of the few major
nominations for "The Dark Knight," since highly popular
best-picture winners usually bring bigger ratings.
When "Titanic" won 11 Oscars in the 1998 ceremony, the show had
its best ratings ever. The 2004 show, in which popular "Lord of the
Rings: Return of the King" swept 11 awards, was a big ratings
winner as well.
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" also got nominations for
director David Fincher and supporting actress Taraji P. Henson. The
film is a joint venture of Viacom Inc.'s (VIA) Paramount Pictures
unit and Warner Bros.
"Frost/Nixon," a retelling of the 1970s interviews between
British talk-show host David Frost and disgraced President Richard
Nixon, received nods for director Ron Howard, as well as for Frank
Langella, who recreated his stage role as Nixon. The film is a
production of General Electric Co.'s (GE) Universal Studios
unit.
"Milk" is from Universal's Focus Features specialty unit. Along
with Penn and Brolin, director Gus Van Sant also got a
nomination.
Kate Winslet received a best actress nomination for her role in
"The Reader," and the film's director Stephen Daldry also was
nominated. "The Reader" was produced by The Weinstein Co.
And director Danny Boyle captured a nomination for "Slumdog
Millionaire," from News Corp's (NWS) Fox Searchlight division. News
Corp. is the parent of MarketWatch, publisher of this report.
Acting nominations
Along with Pitt, Langella and Penn, Mickey Rourke was nominated
for best actor for his role in Fox Searchlight's "The Wrestler,"
and Richard Jenkins for Overture Films' "The Visitor."
Along with Winslet, best actress nominees were Anne Hathaway for
"Rachel Getting Married" from Sony Pictures Classics (SNE),
Angelina Jolie in Universal's "Changeling," Melissa Leo in Sony's
"Frozen River," and Meryl Streep in "Doubt," from Walt Disney Co.'s
(DIS) Miramax unit.
Brolin and Ledger were joined in the supporting actor category
by Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder" from DreamWorks, Philip
Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt" and Michael Shannon in DreamWorks'
"Revolutionary Road."
Supporting actress nominees, along with Henson, were Amy Adams
in "Doubt," Penelope Cruz in Weinstein's "Vicky Christina
Barcelona," Viola Davis in "Doubt" and Marisa Tomei in "The
Wrestler."
Three films were nominated for best animated feature, two of
them from Disney. "Bolt" and "Wall-E" were the Disney entries and
DreamWorks Animation's (DWA) "Kung Fu Panda" rounded out the
category.
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