The British films Les Miserables, Tom Hooper's crowd-pleasing adaptation of the West End musical, and Skyfall, the critically acclaimed 23rd outing for James Bond, were both widely rewarded in the nominations for the British Academy film awards on Wednesday.
But the biggest number of nominations went to Lincoln, Steven Spielberg's biopic of the 16th president, starring Daniel Day-Lewis. That film, which opens in the UK on 25 January, picked up 10 nominations while Les Miserables took nine and Skyfall eight (although the Bond film failed to make the best film category).
Lincoln therefore heads into the Oscar race (which begins proper on Thursday when the nominations are announced) as clear frontrunner, with the most nominations from both the Baftas and the Golden Globes – which take place in Los Angeles on Sunday.
In a curious twist, however, Spielberg, Hooper and Sam Mendes (Skyfall) all missed out on a best director nomination; rather that category was populated by Ben Affleck (for Argo), Quentin Tarantino (for Django Unchained), Kathryn Bigelow (for Zero Dark Thirty), Michael Haneke (for Amour) and Ang Lee (for Life of Pi).
Life of Pi, an adaptation of Yann Martel's Booker winning novel, picked up nine nominations – a remarkable number for a film with no major acting names, even given its box office success.
Recognition for Skyfall comes in the wake of the announcement that the film is now the most successful UK movie of all time, having taken more than $1bn (£620m) worldwide. Its nominations include best supporting actor (Javier Bardem) and best supporting actress (Judi Dench). The haul suggests Skyfall has a decent shot of being nominated for a best picture Oscar – a first for a James Bond film.
Les Miserables, which opens in the UK on Friday and is already on course to become the highest-grossing musical in north American box-office history, has long been considered a dead cert for Oscars success; Hooper's previous film, The King's Speech, won four Oscars in 2011.
To be recognised by his Bafta peers, said Eric Fellner, co-chair of Working Title pictures, was "a gorgeous and wonderful thing … it's a great thrill for Tim [Bevan] and I that both Les Miserables and Anna Karenina have done so well."
Anna Karenina opened in the UK last autumn to moderate reviews. But its theatrical life overseas looks likely to be boosted by its six nominations, although there were none for director Joe Wright, nor Tom Stoppard's adaptation of the Tolstoy novel.
Tarantino's Django Unchained and Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty notched five nominations apiece. Argo received seven nods, including a surprise leading actor inclusion for Affleck himself.
Here he looks to have nudged out either John Hawkes's performance as a man in an iron lung who hires a sex surrogate in The Sessions, or Denzel Washington's alcoholic airline pilot in Flight. Rather, Affleck is up against Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables) and Joaquin Phoenix (The Master). Phoenix, who has dismissed the importance of awards, greeted his nomination by declaring himself "uncomfortably honoured".
Although The Master, which topped most publications' film of the year polls, missed out in the best film and best director category, it performed better than expected, with nods for Amy Adams and Philip Seymour Hoffman in the supporting actor categories, and for Paul Thomas Anderson's screenplay.
Haneke's Amour won nods for leading actress (Emmanuelle Riva), foreign language film, original screenplay and best director.
The Master is one of a trio of contenders being championed by super-producer Harvey Weinstein, following his success with The King's Speech in 2011 and The Artist last year. The Weinstein Company is also distributing David Russell's Silver Linings Playbook and Tarantino's Django Unchained. But while all three films have picked up rave reviews, Weinstein looks likely this year to be trumped to the best picture prize by a movie backed by a major studio.
Fellner sees such a sea-change as indicative of increased mainstream Hollywood bravery: "What's important is that the big nominated films are all doing business as well," he told the Guardian.
"Recently the awards movies have come from the independent sector, but hopefully this is the year the studios feel more able to back films that are a little more challenging."
Smaller British films found little love from the 6,500 Bafta's members: Peter Strickland's experimental horror Berberian Sound Studio was ignored, as was Ben Wheatley's caravanning comedy Sightseers. Even some more mainstream native films failed to strike a chord: Dustin Hoffman's ensemble comedy Quartet took no nominations, while The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel had just one.British director James Bobin is nominated for outstanding debut for The Muppets, likewise Dexter Fletcher, here recognised for his directing and writing for on Wild Bill.
Director Bart Layton and producer Dimitri Doganis find their documentary The Imposter up for two categories - best documentary and outstanding debut. Director David Morris and director/producer Jacqui Morris repeat the trick with their film McCullin. The five-strong documentary list is rounded out by Marley, Searching for Sugar Man and West of Memphis.
The Baftas will take place two weeks before the Oscars, on 10 February at the Royal Opera House in London, in a ceremony hosted by Stephen Fry.
