DiCaprio's The Revenant leads 88th Oscar nominations

"The Revenant," a harrowing survival thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a 19th century fur trapper, topped the Oscars nominations list Thursday with 12 nods, including for best picture, actor and director.
In second place was dystopian action film "Mad Max: Fury Road," with 10 nominations, followed by space blockbuster "The Martian," about an astronaut stranded on the Red Planet, with seven.

The nominations, announced at a pre-dawn ceremony in Beverly Hills organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, sent Hollywood's annual awards season into high gear.
The race is now on for the coveted Oscars, to be handed out on February 28 at a ceremony hosted by comedian Chris Rock.
"The Revenant" was directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who also helmed last year's big Oscars winner "Birdman," which earned four golden statuettes including for best picture and director.

Should Inarritu win again this year for "The Revenant," he will be joining just two other directors - Joseph Mankiewicz and John Ford - who won the award for two consecutive years.
Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs described "The Revenant" as a "cinematic masterpiece," in comments to reporters.
Beyond the top three films on the nominations list, the other contenders for best picture are "The Big Short," "Bridge of Spies," "Brooklyn," "Room" and "Spotlight.
Cold War thriller "Bridge of Spies," lesbian romance "Carol" and "Spotlight" - about journalists from The Boston Globe who uncovered sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, each earned six nominations.
DiCaprio, who earned his fifth Oscar acting nod for his portrayal of frontiersman Hugh Glass in "The Revenant," is widely seen as the favorite to take home his first Academy Award.
His competition is fairly stiff: others in the best actor category are Bryan Cranston for "Trumbo," Matt Damon for "The Martian," Michael Fassbender for "Steve Jobs" and Eddie Redmayne - an Oscar winner last year - for "The Danish Girl."

For best actress, "Carol" star Cate Blanchett and "Room" star Brie Larson, who portrayed a kidnapped mother living in captivity with her son, are seen as the favorites in a category that also includes veteran British actress Charlotte Rampling ("45 Years").
Sylvester Stallone - widely seen as a sentimental favorite - received a nod for best supporting actor for "Creed," in which he reprised his iconic role of boxer Rocky Balboa.
There were no black actors nominated in any of the top categories, and the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite - used last year to criticize the lack of diversity among the nominees - quickly trended on Twitter.
Boone Isaacs, the Academy president, said: "We have been actively bringing in more diversity into our membership (...) actions need to be taken to make sure the industry as a whole is more inclusive."
Tim Gray, the awards editor for industry magazine Variety, said while he felt the nominations were "a good list," he lamented some snubs, including for black actor Will Smith in NFL drama "Concussion."
"The Academy people don't vote by race or gender but it's the studios that need to fix this by better reflecting the populations," Gray told AFP.
Some 6,000 members of the Academy, all of them who work in the film industry, vote for the films, actors and directors that will be vying for an Oscar.
"The Martian" director Ridley Scott was overlooked, as was "Carol" director Todd Haynes. But Lenny Abrahamson did get a nomination for best director for "Room."
Many thought Michael Keaton, a best actor nominee last year for "Birdman" who was defeated by Redmayne, might score a nomination this year for "Spotlight," but he was snubbed.
In the best picture category, many expected the critically acclaimed "Carol" to get a nod, which it didn't.
The big success of the latest "Mad Max" film, which starred Charlize Theron, surprised some, especially with its best picture nomination.
Among the foreign films nominated were Hungarian Holocaust drama "Son of Saul," Jordan's "Theeb," Colombia's "Embrace of the Serpent" and "Mustang," a French production about five Turkish sisters living in subjugation.
Here are the nominees in the main categories for the 88th Academy Awards:
Best picture:
"The Big Short"
"Bridge of Spies"
"Brooklyn"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Martian"
"The Revenant"
"Room"
"Spotlight"
Best director:
Adam McKay, "The Big Short"
George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road"
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "The Revenant"
Lenny Abrahamson, "Room"
Tom McCarthy, "Spotlight"
Best actor:
Bryan Cranston, "Trumbo"
Matt Damon, "The Martian"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"
Michael Fassbender, "Steve Jobs"
Eddie Redmayne, "The Danish Girl"
Best actress:
Cate Blanchett, "Carol"
Brie Larson, "Room"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Joy"
Charlotte Rampling, "45 Years"
Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn"
Best supporting actor:
Christian Bale, "The Big Short"
Tom Hardy, "The Revenant"
Mark Ruffalo, "Spotlight"
Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies"
Sylvester Stallone, "Creed"
Best supporting actress:
Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Hateful Eight"
Rooney Mara, "Carol"
Rachel McAdams, "Spotlight"
Alicia Vikander, "The Danish Girl"
Kate Winslet, "Steve Jobs"
Best foreign language film:
"Embrace of the Serpent" (Colombia)
"Mustang" (France)
"Son of Saul" (Hungary)
"Theeb" (Jordan)
"A War" (Denmark)
Best animated feature:
"Anomalisa"
"Boy and the World"
"Inside Out"
"Shaun the Sheep Movie"
"When Marnie Was There"
Best documentary feature:
"Amy"
"Cartel Land"
"The Look of Silence"
"What Happened, Miss Simone?"
"Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom"
Best original screenplay:
"Bridge of Spies " - Matt Charman, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
"Ex Machina " - Alex Garland
"Inside Out" - Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley and Ronnie Del Carmen
"Spotlight" - Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy
"Straight Outta Compton" - Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge and Alan Wenkus
Best adapted screenplay:
"The Big Short" - Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
"Brooklyn" - Nick Hornby
"Carol" - Phyllis Nagy
"The Martian" - Drew Goddard
"Room" - Emma Donoghue
Best cinematography:
"Carol"
"The Hateful Eight"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Revenant"
"Sicario"
Best original score:
Thomas Newman, "Bridge of Spies"
Carter Burwell, "Carol"
Ennio Morricone, "The Hateful Eight"
Johann Johannsson, "Sicario"
John Williams, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"
Best original song:
"Earned It" from "Fifty Shades of Grey"
"Manta Ray" from "Racing Extinction"
"Simple Song #3" from "Youth"
"Til It Happens To You" from "The Hunting Ground"
"Writing's On The Wall" from "Spectre"
Best visual effects:
"Ex Machina"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Martian"
"The Revenant"
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"
Number of nominations for films with two or more nods:
"The Revenant" - 12
"Mad Max: Fury Road" - 10
"The Martian" - 7
"Bridge of Spies" - 6
"Carol" - 6
"Spotlight" - 6
"The Big Short" - 5
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" - 5
"The Danish Girl" - 4
"Room" - 4
"Brooklyn" - 3
"The Hateful Eight" - 3
"Sicario" - 3
"Ex Machina" - 2
"Inside Out" - 2
"Steve Jobs" - 2