The musical Dreamgirls came out on top with a leading eight Oscar nominations, but was shut out in the biggest category of best picture.
Babel was close behind with seven nominations including best picture, best director, and a pair of best supporting actress nods for Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi.
Competing with Babel for best picture are Martin Scorsese's Boston crime tale The Departed, Clint Eastwood's Japanese-language World War II film Letters From Iwo Jima, road-trip comedy Little Miss Sunshine, and monarchy drama The Queen.
Unlike previous years there's no apparent frontrunner for best picture.
However other categories could stack up as a repeat of Golden Globe victory - actors Helen Mirren of The Queen, Forest Whitaker of The Last King of Scotland, and Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson of Dreamgirls are all nominated.
Several Canadians were among the nominees this year. Paul Haggis, of London, Ont., who has won best screeplay the last two years straight was nominated for the third time for Letters From Iwo Jima.
Toronto director Deepa Mehta's film Water is nominated in the Best Foreign Film category. Mehta says she jumped up when she heard the film named, and proceeded to crack open a bottle of champagne.
"Personally it means a lot to me as a Canadian," Mehta said after learning of the nomination. "Because it proves something I've always believed in, which is that Canada is a multicultural country."
Water is set in 1930s India against Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power, and describes the appalling treatment of Hindu widows.
Canuck actor Ryan Gosling was given a surprise nod for best actor in Half Nelson. Critics hailed his performance as a drug-addicted teacher at the end of the year even though the film wasn't widely seen. He'll compete with Whitaker, Will Smith for The Pursuit of Happyness, Leonardo DiCaprio for Blood Diamond, and Peter O'Toole for Venus.
And rounding out the Canadian honours, the National Film Board production The Danish Poet was nominated for best animated short film.
In the best actress category frontrunner Mirren is up against Penelope Cruz for Volver, Judi Dench for Notes on a Scandal, Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada, and Kate Winslet for Little Children. It's Streep's 14th Academy Award nomination, adding to her record as the most nominated actor ever.
Competing for best director are Eastwood, Scorsese, who has been nominated several times but has yet to win, Babel's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, The Queen's Stephen Frears, and Paul Greengrass for 9/11 drama United 93.
The Oscars are handed out on February 25.
2007 Oscar Nominations:
Picture:
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Actress:
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children
Actor:
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
Supporting Actress:
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin - Litle Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed
Director:
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
Martin Scorsese - The Departed
Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Paul Greengrass - United 93
Adapted Screenplay:
Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, Children of Men
William Monahan, The Departed
Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children
Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal
Original Screenplay:
Guillermo Arriaga, Babel
Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, Letters From Iwo Jima
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
Peter Morgan, The Queen
Foreign Film:
After The Wedding, Denmark
Days of Glory, Algeria
The Lives Of Others, Germany
Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico
Water, Canada
Animated Feature:
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster
Art Direction:
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige
Cinematography:
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth
The Prestige
Sound Mixing:
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Sound Editing:
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Original Score:
Babel, Gustavo Santaolalla
The Good German, Thomas Newman
Notes on a Scandal, Philip Glass
Pan's Labyrinth, Javier Navarrete
The Queen, Alexandre Desplat
Original Song:
I Need to Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth, Melissa Etheridge
Listen from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven
Love You I Do from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett
Our Town from Cars, Randy Newman
Patience from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger and Willie Reale.
Costume:
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
The Queen
Documentary Feature:
Deliver Us From Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country
Documentary (short subject):
The Blood of Yingzhou District
Recycled Life
Rehearsing a Dream
Two Hands
Film Editing:
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed
United 93
Makeup:
Apocalypto
Click
Pan's Labyrinth
Animated Short Film:
The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts
Live Action Short Film:
Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)
Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story
Visual Effects:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns
Academy Award winners previously announced this year:
HONORARY AWARD (Oscar statuette): Ennio Morricone
JEAN HERSHOLT HUMANITARIAN AWARD (Oscar statuette): Sherry Lansing
Save this page on del.icio.us
Sign up for a del.icio.us account here to save your bookmarks for free online.