'Lincoln' gets leading 12 Oscar nominations

U.S. presidential drama 'Lincoln' led the pack of Oscar nominees on Thursday with 12 nominations including a nod for best picture, in the race for the world's top film honors.

Joining 'Lincoln' in the competition for the best movie Oscar were eight films, including shipwreck tale 'Life of Pi' with 11 nods, musical 'Les Miserables', Iran hostage drama 'Argo', French drama 'Amour', Osama bin laden thriller 'Zero Dark Thirty', comedy 'Silver Linings Playbook', Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained', and mythological indie film 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'.

The Oscars are given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and this year's winners will be named at a ceremony in Hollywood on February 26.

Best acting nominations went to Daniel Day-Lewis for his performance as U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Hugh Jackman for 'Les Miserables', Jessica Chastain for her role as a CIA agent in 'Zero Dark Thirty" and Jennifer Lawrence for playing a young widow in 'Silver Linings Playbook'.

In a list with few major surprises, 'Lincoln' also picked up nods for director Steven Spielberg, and supporting actors Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones, as well as best adapted screenplay and costumes.

James Bond film 'Skyfall' won five nominations, including best original song and cinematography, but the British secret agent movie missed out on a coveted best picture mention.

The screen adaption of musical 'Les Mis' got eight nominations, including best supporting actress for Anne Hathaway as tragic heroine Fantine. But director Tom Hooper was left off the directing nominees, along with Ben Affleck for 'Argo' and Tarantino for his violent slavery era Western 'Django Unchained'.

'Amour', a moving love story about an elderly couple, fared well with the Academy, winning best picture and best director nods for Michael Haneke, and a best lead actress mention for 85 year-old Emmanuelle Riva, who became the oldest best actress nominee in the Academy's 85-year history.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Quvenzhane Wallis, 9, became the youngest ever best actress Oscar nominee for her performance in the end of the world movie 'Beasts of the Southern Wild', which also garnered a nod for its first time director Benh Zeitlin.

Here is a full list of the nominees:

Best Picture

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Amour
Django Unchained
Argo

Best Actress

Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Emanuelle Riva - Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Denzel Washington - Flight
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

Best Supporting Actress

Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Jacki Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Amy Adams - The Master

Best Supporting Actor

Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook
Alan Arkin - Argo
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln

Best Director

David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
Michael Haneke - Amour
Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Original Screenplay

Flight
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Amour
Moonrise Kingdom

Best Adapted Screenplay

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Argo
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi

Best Foreign Feature

Amour
No
War Witch
A Royal Affair
Kon-Tiki

Best Animated Feature Film

Frankenweenie
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph
ParaNorman
Brave

Best Music, Original Song

"Before My Time" from Chasing Ice
"Pi's Lullaby" from Life of Pi
"Suddenly" from Les Miserables
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend" from Ted
"Skyfall" from Skyfall

Best Cinematography

Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Best Costume Design

Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Documentary Feature

5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short

Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Best Film Editing

Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables

Best Music, Original Score

Anna Karenina
Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Best Production Design

Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln

Best Short Film, Animated

Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"
Paperman