Oscar bullish on ‘Revenant’

DiCaprio’s wilderness tale racks up 12 nominations

Leonardo DiCaprio, Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Lawrence were among the nominees for the 88th Academy Awards, which were announced Thursday morning.

"The Revenant" topped all films with 12 nominations, including best picture, setting up best director nominee Alejandro Iñárritu for a potential repeat of last year's "Birdman" success.

Best picture nominee "Mad Max: Fury Road" earned 10 nominations — including a nod for George Miller for best director —while "The Martian" raked in seven. "Spotlight," "The Big Short," "Room" and "Bridge of Spies" also pulled in several nods.

The Oscars ceremony will take place on Feb. 28 and will be broadcast live on ABC at 7 p.m. ET.

The list of nominations for the 87th Academy Awards:

Best picture: "Spotlight" "The Big Short" "Bridge of Spies" "Brooklyn" "Mad Max: Fury Road" "The Martian" "The Revenant" "Room" Immediate reaction: The Academy can nominate up to 10 contenders, which leaves space for some less typical entries. This year, they went with eight options, which means we have the movies we knew we'd see — "The Revenant," "The Martian," "Spotlight" — but also some less weighty entries, such as "The Big Short" and "Mad Max: Fury Road."

Actor in a leading role: Bryan Cranston, "Trumbo" Matt Damon, "The Martian" Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant" Michael Fassbender, "Steve Jobs" Eddie Redmayne, "The Danish Girl" Immediate reaction: The only name on this list that really matters is Leonardo DiCaprio. Barring some unthinkable fraud (What if he secretly shot the whole movie on a soundstage? Maybe that bison liver was a strawberry jamcovered mushroom?), he has this category locked down.

Actress in a leading role: Cate Blanchett, "Carol" Brie Larson, "Room" Jennifer Lawrence, "Joy" Charlotte Rampling, "45 Years" Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn" Immediate reaction: This shakes out a lot like we would have guessed. Golden Globe winner Larson, arguably the front-runner, is on the list, alongside other sure bets, such as Blanchett and Lawrence. The one mild surprise is Rampling, who was phenomenal in "45 Years" but didn't get a Golden Globe nomination.

Best director: Lenny Abrahamson, "Room" Alejandro Iñárritu, "The Revenant" George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road" Tom McCarthy, "Spotlight" Adam McKay, "The Big Short" Immediate reaction: These directors really run the gamut, from Iñárritu and his extreme sport of directing to the staid yet thrilling approach that McCarthy took to "Spotlight." The most surprising omission is Ridley Scott. The "Martian" director has been nominated multiple times but never won, so this year seemed like the time for the Academy to honor him with a body-of-work Oscar. Instead, Abrahamson and McKay landed on the list, leaving less serious competition for Iñárritu, who has a good shot at winning his second consecutive trophy after last year's "Birdman."

Actor in a supporting role: Christian Bale, "The Big Short" Tom Hardy, "The Revenant" Mark Ruffalo, "Spotlight" Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies" Sylvester Stallone, "Creed" Immediate reaction: This is a strong category with a lot of worthy contenders. Globe winner Stallone has been gaining steam coming into awards season with his emotional return to the character of Rocky Balboa. The biggest surprise of the lot is Tom Hardy; apparently the Academy really liked "The Revenant." He took the place of some other strong candidates, including Idris Elba from "Beasts of No Nation," Paul Dano in "Love & Mercy" and Michael Shannon for "99 Homes."

Actress in a supporting role: Rooney Mara, "Carol" Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Hateful Eight" Alicia Vikander, "The Danish Girl" Kate Winslet, "Steve Jobs" Rachel McAdams, "Spotlight" Immediate reaction: Vikander burst onto the scene this year with a handful of brilliant performances in buzzy movies, and it paid off with a nomination here. It wasn't clear whether she would land on the list for "Ex-Machina" or "The Danish Girl." The same goes for Rooney Mara, who probably had more screentime than her co-star Cate Blanchett in "Carol" but ended up in the supporting category.