Today the nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards were announced, and as expected Avatar picked up quite a few in a number of categories. Sandra Bullock, Christoph Waltz, Jeremy Renner, Morgan Freeman, Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep also recieved nominations for their acting.

You can see the full list of nominations below:

Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up in the Air

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey mulligan – An Education
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Mo’Nique – Precious

Animated Feature
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Directing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Up in the Air

Music (Original Score)
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
District 9
An Education
In The Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

The winners will be revealed on March 7th in a ceremony presented by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.

The Weinstein Company provided ComingSoon with three new poster for Rob Marshall’s Nine, one of which can be seen below.

Notice the use of the young, good looking actresses and the absence of the talented Dame Judi Dench and Sophie Loren. I guess that’s marketing for you.

You can see the other two posters by clicking here!

Yahoo! have a new video which shows the cast of Nine rehearsing their musical numbers for the film. It’s not one of those a behind the scenes shaky cams, it’s a bit more professional and shows footage for the film alongside the rehearsal footage.

Who would have guessed Penelope Cruz was that flexible? Even though it’s a musical I will probably see as there’s quite a lot of talent in the film. And Kate Hudson.

Ok, Weinstein Company. It took you long enough to notice that you were crowding Thanksgiving releases with your award-hopefuls. Viggo Mortensen by-the-way of John Hillcoat has The Road, another Cormac McCarthy adaptation drama, this time with cannibalism, opens for Thanksgiving and has also been delayed almost a year to hit its award stride.

The newest victim of jockeying for awards positions is The Weinstein Company’s movie musical based on a Broadway musical based on a play based on a Fellini film, Nine. Nine stars Daniel Day Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Nicole Kidman which should already have Academy members salivating. It’s the newest directorial effort from Rob Marshall, who won Oscar gold in 2003 with Chicago and will be bringing us the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film our way in the future.

Nine has been pushed from its November 25th opening, which would put it in competition with The Road, to a December 18th release date in New York and LA, expanding wide on Christmas Day.

Because who doesn’t want a musical on Christmas? Eh? Eh?

This year has been full of choppy waters for The Weinstein Company, who barely kept their heads above water with Inglorious Basterds doing the lionshare of the profit-raising this year. Now all they need is more awards presence and they might live on to make…I dunno, Halloween 3?

Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren and…Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas are all in an upcoming musical called Nine (not to be confused with the upcoming animated movie 9). The trailer can be seen below. I’m not a musical type of person but they have put together a heck of a cast and anything with Daniel Day-Lewis in deserves to be seen whether it has musical numbers or not.

Nine is directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago) and tells the story of world famous film director Guido Contini as he prepares his latest picture and balances the numerous women in his life

The Weinstein Company have released an image of Rob Marshall’s musical Nine, which started filming recently.

From left to right: Judi Dench smoking, Penelope Cruz with a weird leg position, this years Best Actress Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, Fergie with her legs open as usual, Nicole Kidman and Kate Hudson. Oh, and Daniel Day-Lewis is the dude with his back to us.

Nine tells the story of world famous film director Guido Contini, who faces a personal and professional crisis as he struggles to prepare his latest picture, while balancing the numerous women in his life — his wife, his mistress, his movie star muse, his costume designer, a fashion journalist, a whore from his childhood, and his mother.

According to Variety, song woman Fergie is in negotiations to join the musical Nine, which will be directed by Rob Marshall. The casting decision came after Marshell decided he needed a women who looks like she could take a big one as well as sing. If these negotiations go well she will play Saraghina, a lusty woman who introduces Daniel Day-Lewis’s character to the world of sexuality.

As well as two time Oscar winner Lewis, the film will also star Oscar nominees Penelope Cruz and Kate Hudson, and Oscar winners Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren, Judi Dench and Marion Cotillard.

Rehearsals will begin in August with filming scheduled to begin in October. It will be interesting to see Daniel Day-Lewis in a musical, as we haven’t seen him in express his vocal cords to a beat before.