Steve McQueen is on course to become the first black winner of the best director Oscar after the nominations for the 86th Academy awards were announced yesterday. His universally acclaimed drama 12 Years a Slave picked up nine nominations in total, including best actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor, but was pipped in the race for total nominations by American Hustle, the 70s-set con caper directed by David O Russell, and Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón's space walk thriller, which both scored 10.

McQueen is already only the third black director to even receive a nomination, after John Singleton with Boyz 'n the Hood (1992) and Lee Daniels with Precious (2009), and, if victorious, would also be the only winner of the Turner prize for visual arts (which he was awarded in 1999) and an Oscar.

Acclaim for McQueen's achievement was immediately forthcoming. Tessa Ross, controller of film and drama at Channel 4, who were early backers of 12 Years a Slave said: "This is a very exciting day – Steve is already acclaimed as one of the worlds' leading contemporary visual artists and is now being recognised as a truly visionary feature film-maker on the international stage."

12 Years a Slave remains odds on to win the best picture Academy award; however, it by no means has a clear run to Oscar night triumph. American Hustle, which took home three Golden Globe awards last weekend to Slave's one, has achieved more nominations, including in all four acting categories, with Amy Adams and Christian Bale up for best actress and actor, and Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence for best supporting. This represents a remarkable success for Russell, who pulled off the same four-way feat last year with his romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook.

12 Years a Slave has also been edged out by the blockbuster Gravity, whose $615m (£375m) worldwide box office makes it one of those unusual films that appeal to both mass audences and Oscar voters. Unsurprisingly, Gravity's pioneering 3D visuals has seen it clean up in nominations for the technical categories, including best cinematography, best visual effects, and best editing, but it also scored nods for Sandra Bullock for best actress and Alfonso Cuarón for best director.

These three films form the headline act, but just below them Captain Phillips, the Tom Hanks-starring piracy drama, and Dallas Buyers Club, the Aids medication drama featuring Matthew McConaughey, put in unexpected shows of strength. Though not achieving nominations for either Hanks or director Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips still managed six nods, led by the hitherto unknown Somalian-born Barkhad Abadi, in the best supporting actor category.

Six nominations also came the way of Dallas Buyers Club, which had put in a strong showing at the Golden Globes, winning best actor (drama) for McConaughey and best supporting actor for Jared Leto, who were both nominated in the same categories here. Leto told the Guardian: "I'm very pleased, I was on jury duty yesterday, and to wake up to this ... I knew it was special the moment I got the script. You feel lucky to get an honour like this – not for myself, but because it shines a light on these kind of difficult, challenging films, and hopefully leads to more getting made."

Philomena, the forced-adoption comedy-drama, was the main British hope, and it took four nominations, including best picture, best actress for Judi Dench, and best adapted screenplay for Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope. Dench said: "This is just the loveliest news. I'm so happy for everybody involved, and so proud to have been part of [a] wonderful experience." Christine Langan, head of BBC Films and one of Philomena's principal backers said: "The recognition … is a thrilling testament to Philomena's amazing story and the film-makers' ingenuity and humanity in the telling of it."

The Oscars also have retained their capacity to surprise. There were a number of big name omissions, including Hanks for both his talked-up roles this year in Captain Phillips and Saving Mr Banks, as well as Robert Redford as a lone yachtsman in All Is Lost, Emma Thompson as crotchety author PL Travers in Saving Mr Banks, and Joaquin Phoenix in Spike Jonze's oddball love story Her. The Coen brothers' Cannes prize-winner Inside Llewyn Davis only managed two minor nominations, while the popular British car race movie Rush was ignored entirely. On the other hand, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa was deemed worthy of a nod for best hair and makeup.

More pertinently, this year also marks the first Oscar nomination for British actor Sally Hawkins for her supporting role in Blue Jasmine, while Bruce Dern, nominated for best actor for Nebraska, last troubled the Oscar voters in 1979 for the Hal Ashby-directed Vietnam vet drama Coming Home. And while Harvey Weinstein's capacity as a supreme Oscar campaigner has questioned, he still managed to get Hong Kong martial arts epic The Grandmaster, directed by Wong Kar-wai, two entirely unpredicted nominations, for best cinematography and costume design.

The Academy award ceremony takes place in Los Angeles on 2 March.

• Peter Bradshaw: 12 Years a Slave must clean up. But that doesn't mean it will
• News: Gravity and Hustle on 10, Slave on nine
• Gallery: nominees by nominations
• Liveblog: as it happened
• Full list of nominations
• Tom Shone: why Oscar snubs are just a myth