It's the time of year again when the Oscar hype machine will go into overdrive in the period between the nominations being announced and the ceremony itself.

This year there are two films which are ahead of the rest, and two films which are total contrasts in style. James Cameron has continued to astound everyone by getting a nomination for best picture and best director, and his film Avatar has managed nine nomination in total with the others being in the technical department.

Kathryn Bigelow's (who happens to be Camerons ex-wife) The Hurt Locker has also managed nine nominations, best picture and best director being two of then, the picture has also got a nomination for it's star Jeremy Renner as a leading actor.

The best picture category this year include 10 films (is that too many) so we have the likes of The Blind Side and Inglourious Basterds along side British hopeful An Education as well as South African sci-fi film District 9, and a first in that Up is nominated for best film and best animated film.

Best film and director is going to be a battle between Cameron and Bigelow, but the rest of the awards are an open field, so lets wait and see what heppens on March 7th at the 82nd Academy Awards Ceremony.

Heres a list of the nominations, or check out the website.

BEST DIRECTOR

James Cameron, Avatar
Katherine Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarentino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up In The Air

BEST ACTOR

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up In The Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

BEST PICTURE

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up In the Air

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Neil Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell, District 9
Neil Hornby, An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, In The Loop
Geofrey Fletcher, Precious
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, Up In The Air

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Mark Boall, The Hurt locker
Quentin Tarentino, Inglourious Basterds
Joel And Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Up

Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Documentary Feature
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

Documentary Short
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of A GM Plant
Music By Prudence
Rabbit A La Berlin

Film Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
INglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire

Foreign Language Film
Ajami
El Secreto
Desus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

Make-Up
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Music: Original Score
Avatar
Fantastic Mr Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Music: Original Song
The Princess and The Frog – Almost There
The Princess and the Frog – Down In New Orleans
Paris 36 – Loin de Panane
Nine – Take It All
Crazy Heart – The Weary Kind

Short Film: Animated
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady And The Reaper
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Short Film: Live Action
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Achievement In Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Who said that the box office was dead? Well Warner Bros. are set to make $4bn this year in Box Office takings, the highest a studio has ever made in a calendar year.

The big films which helped Warners hit this target were harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, their highest grosser this year, The Hangover, Yes Man, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and Gran Torino which all came in over $100m in worldwide grosses.

Other films which have helped are Watchmen, Terminator Salvation and The Blind Side which is yet to see a UK release but did big business in the US. Sherlock Holmes is also sure to make big money for Warners which came out over the Christmas holiday break.

Sure ticket prices are higher today than they have ever been, but we have home cinema systems today which are more affordable than ever and make staying in and watching a video a better experience than ever, couple this with the ever growing Blu-ray and video on demand market and it's a real challenge for the multiplexes.

Looking at the top earners of recent years though and they are all films which are better experienced on a large screen rather than you���re at home 50 inch plasma. Except for last year���s top film, Mamma Mia, which for some reason took on a life of its own?