Oscar nominations 2018: The Shape of Water leads the pack as fan favourites Get Out and Lady Bird get nods - as it happened

What went down at The Academy's 5am announcement in LA

Oscars 2017: Best Picture confusion

Another year, another batch of Oscars nominations, and for once the general consensus is that The Academy got it right.

At an eye-watering 5.22am PST in Los Angeles (1.22pm GMT) the 2018 nominees were announced by Tiffany Haddish and Andy Serkis live from the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

As expected, Guillermo del Toro's surreal yet touching romance The Shape of Water picked up the most nominations, landing a sizeable 13, with Christopher Nolan's war epic Dunkirk and Joe Wright's Churchill biopic Darkest Hour following, albeit quite far behind.

Luscious movies Call Me By Your Name and Phantom Thread also made the big categories, along with indie darlings Lady Bird and Get Out. Respective directors Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig managed to earn Best Director nods for their directorial debuts, Gerwig becoming only the fifth woman to enter that category.

Blade Runner 2049 and Star Wars: The Last Jedi also snuck into the mix thanks to the Oscars involving a larger number of technical awards.

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2018's biggest Oscar nominees (Graphic News)

The 2018 Oscars will take place on Sunday 4 March presented by Jimmy Kimmel.

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Key Points

• The Shape of Water was this year's most-nominated film with 13 nods, easily surpassing Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri which cleaned up at the recent Golden Globes
• Indie darlings Get Out and Lady Bird did very well, earning directors Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig Best Picture and Best Director noms for their directorial debuts
• Gerwig became the fifth woman ever to be nominated for direction, the first since Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) eight years ago.
• Nominees will vie for their respective prizes at the 4 March ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel 

[23 January 2018 14:06 · Christopher Hooton]

Greta Gerwig becomes the fifth woman in Academy Awards history to be nominated for Best Director, the first in eight years.

[23 January 2018 14:07 · Christopher Hooton]

It was her directorial debut, too (same goes for Jordan Peele).

[23 January 2018 14:10 · Christopher Hooton]

Meanwhile, Paul Thomas Anderson's fantastic Phantom Thread gathered more noms than expected. Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Actor was a dead cert, but it made it into Best Picture too. 

[23 January 2018 14:12 · Christopher Hooton]

On the Indy film desk we've been a little saddened to see Blade Runner 2049 not get the credit it deserves this award season. It landed five technical nods to do, but no Best Director for visionary Denis Villeneuve.

Here's us discussing why we loved it:

[23 January 2018 14:14 · Christopher Hooton]

Believe it or not, this is the first time Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk, Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight etc) has been nominated for his direction.

[23 January 2018 14:18 · Christopher Hooton]

Speaking of firsts, Mudbound's Cinematography nomination marks the first ever female nominee in that category. Well done, Rachel Morrison.

[23 January 2018 14:29 · Christopher Hooton]

[23 January 2018 14:36 · Christopher Hooton]

All nominees will face off/politely hug and congratulate one another at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles on 4 March. We hope you'll keep us company as we cover it into the small hours.