Going for gold: Oscar nominations announced

Nominees for the 84th annual Academy Awards were announced Tuesday morning, sending Tinseltown into a frenzy and launching eager speculation that will remain unresolved until the Feb. 26 ceremony.

As the dust settled, Sony Pictures emerged on top as the film studio with the most Oscar nominations, 21 in all. Of those, 11 were split between two films associated with super-producer Scott Rudin.  Six went to the biographical sports drama "Moneyball," for which Rudin was a producer, and five went to the American adaptation of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," for which Rudin served as an executive producer.

Sony Pictures' Classics label clenched eight nominations for the studio with a rom-com produced abroad by Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris," and an Iranian familial drama, titled "A Separation," among others.

Martin Scorsese's adventure drama "Hugo" beat out other Best Picture nominees as a an individual film with Academy nods, totalling 11.

"The Artist," a silent film by Michel Hazanavicius, was right on the heels of "Hugo" receiving a total of 10 nominations. Among its take, "The Artist" scored a Best Lead Actor nod for Jean Dujardin and Best Supporting Actress nod for Berenice Bejo. If "The Artist" wins the evening's top prize, it will be the first silent film to take top honors since "Wings" won at the first Academy Awards in 1929.

Joining "Hugo" and "The Artist" in competition are seven other contenders, including "The Descendants," "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," "The Help," "Midnight in Paris," "Moneyball," "The Tree of Life" and "War Horse."

At last year's Oscars, two big-name producers, Scott Rudin and Harvey Weinstein, battled the best-picture race, with Weinstein's "The King's Speech" and Rudin's "The Social Network" and "True Grit." This year it's same song, different dance with Weinstein producing "The Artist" and Rudin producing both "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" and "Moneyball."

While the debate over best picture rages on, the predicated winners of the Best Actor and Best Actress categories are, according to critics, presumably locked up.

Having already taken the best actor honors from both the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, George Clooney's circuit success casts him as a favorite in the Best Actor category.

In the Best Actress category, Meryl Streep leads predictions for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady." Streep, like Clooney, won the Globe for her category, making her chance to nab an Oscar even greater. This is Streep's seventeenth nomination.

The 2012 Oscars will also host a bevy of newcomer nominees, nine in total. These newbies include Rooney Mara, "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo";  Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"; Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"; Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"; Berenice

Bejo, "The Artist'; Jessica Chastain, "The Help" ; Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"; Octavia Spencer ,"The Help" and Jonah Hill, "Moneyball."

This virtual Super Bowl of movie stars will mark the end of this year's motion picture award season.

Tune in to see who takes home the gold at the 84th annual Academy Awards airing live on Sunday, Feb. 26 on ABC.