Avatar, Hurt Locker, An Education Lead BAFTA Awards Nominations

Nods for the British Oscars follow predictable path with few exceptions, including seven noms for District 9

The Hurt Locker maintains its lead in the Oscar race, but the critical darling's definitely looking over its shoulder at some blue people.

Coming off a pair of big wins at the Golden Globes, Avatar joins the war flick and the considerably smaller An Education on the leader board for the Orange British Film Academy Awards nominations, announced this morning. The trio of films is up for eight BAFTAs each.

District 9 follows close behind with seven and Up in the Air and Inglourious Basterds stay near the top with six each.

The British equivalent of the Oscars will be handed out on Feb. 21. Here is the complete list of nominations:

BEST FILM

• Avatar
• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Precious
• Up in the Air

LEADING ACTOR

• Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
• George Clooney, Up in the Air
• Colin Firth, A Single Man
• Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
• Andy Serkis, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

LEADING ACTRESS

• Carey Mulligan, An Education
• Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
• Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
• Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
• Audrey Tatou, Coco Before Chanel

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Alec Baldwin, It's Complicated
• Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles
• Alfred Molina, An Education
• Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
• Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Anne-Marie Duff, Nowhere Boy
• Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
• Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
• Mo'Nique, Precious
• Kristin Scott Thomas, Nowhere Boy

DIRECTOR

• James Cameron, Avatar
• Neill Blomkamp, District 9
• Lone Scherfig, An Education
• Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, The Hangover
• Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
• Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
• Bob Peterson and Pete Docter, Up

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9
• Nick Hornby, An Education
• Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche, In the Loop
• Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
• Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• Broken Embraces
• Coco Before Chanel
• Let the Right One In
• A Prophet
• The White Ribbon

ANIMATED FILM

• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Up

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

• An Education
• Fish Tank
• In the Loop
• Moon
• Nowhere Boy

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

• Producers and directors Lucy Bailey Andrew Thompson, Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock and David Pearson, Mugabe and the White African
• Writer-director Eran Creevy, Shifty
• Writer-director Stuart Hazeldine, Exam
• Director Duncan Jones, Moon
• Director Sam Taylor-Wood, Nowhere Boy

MUSIC

• James Horner, Avatar
• T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton, Crazy Heart
• Alexandre Desplat, Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Chaz Jankel, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
• Michael Giacchino, Up

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Avatar
• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• The Road

EDITING

• Avatar
• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Up in the Air

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Avatar
• District 9
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
• Inglourious Basterds

COSTUME DESIGN

• Bright Star
• Coco Before Chanel
• An Education
• A Single Man
• The Young Victoria

SOUND

• Avatar
• District 9
• The Hurt Locker
• Star Trek
• Up

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

• Avatar
• District 9
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• The Hurt Locker
• Star Trek

MAKEUP & HAIR

• Coco Before Chanel
• An Education
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
• Nine
• The Young Victoria

SHORT ANIMATION

• The Gruffalo
• The Happy Duckling
• Mother of Many

SHORT FILM

• 14
• I Do Air
• Jade
• Mixtape
• Off Season

THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD (voted by the public)

• Jesse Eisenberg
• Nicholas Hoult
• Carey Mulligan
• Tahar Rahim
• Kristen Stewart