Oscar contenders, start your engines! The race has finally begun as the Academy finally unveiled their full list of nominations for 2018.

As expected, the romantic fantasy The Shape of Water leads the way with a commanding thirteen nods which include the all-important Best Picture mention. The film, which focuses on a mute woman who falls for an Amphibian man, also scored a Best Director nod for Guillermo del Toro. Stars Sally Hawkins (as mute cleaner Elisa Esposito), Richard Jenkins (as Elisa’s homosexual neighbour Giles) and Octavia Spencer (as Elisa’s work colleague Zelda) were all recognised in Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively.

The World War II drama Dunkirk is second in the nomination count with eight which includes Best Picture as well as a first Best Director nod for Christopher Nolan who had previously been overlooked for his work on The Dark Knight (2008) and Inception (2010).

The comic-drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has seven mentions including Best Picture to follow up its recent successes at the Golden Globes and Screen Actor’s Guild. However director Martin McDonagh was surprisingly snubbed in his category though he does receive a nod for his original screenplay.

Best Actress frontrunner Frances McDormand (as scorned Missouri citizen Mildred Hayes) is nominated alongside her two male co-stars Woody Harrelson (as conflicted lawman Chief Willoughby) and Sam Rockwell (as immature and violent officer Jason Dixon) who are both up for Best Supporting Actor.

Elsewhere, the psychological horror Get Out and the indie-comedy Lady Bird both performed well as they picked up key mentions in Best Picture. Both Jordan Peele (Get Out) and Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) are recognised for their directing AND screenplays. The latter becomes only the fifth woman to be nominated for Best Director!

British starlet Daniel Kaluuya (as tormented African-American man Chris Washington) receives his first Oscar nod for his lead role in Get Out while Lady Bird’s Saoirse Ronan (as rebellious teenager Christine McPherson) and Laurie Metcalf (as Christine’s concerned mother Marion) are acknowledged in Best Actress and Supporting Actress respectively.

One film that surprisingly performed well was the romantic drama Phantom Thread which picked up six nominations including Best Picture and an unexpected Best Director nod for Paul Thomas Anderson. In what is said to be his final film role, the great Daniel Day-Lewis (as dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock) is recognised in Best Actor while co-star Lesley Manville (as Reynolds’s sister Cyril) is up for Best Supporting Actress.

The rest of the Best Picture lineup is completed by historical biopics Darkest Hour (six nods) and The Post (two nods) plus the romantic drama Call Me By Your Name (four nods).

In the acting categories, Gary Oldman (as British prime minister Winston Churchill) receives his second Best Actor nomination for Darkest Hour and will be competing against youngster Timothee Chalamet (as homosexual teenager Elio) in Call Me By Your Name, Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Kaluuya and previous winner Denzel Washington (as defence attorney Roman Israel) for the drama Roman J. Israel, Esq.

In Best Actress, the great Meryl Streep (as real-life Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham) lands a remarkable 21st nomination for her performance in Steven Spielberg’s The Post and is up against Sally Hawkins, Frances McDormand, Saoirse Ronan and Australian beauty Margot Robbie (as controversial ice skater Tonya Harding) for the sports biopic I, Tonya.

Less than three months ago, Christopher Plummer was not even involved with the real-life drama All the Money in the World yet having replaced Kevin Spacey, he receives a unique Best Supporting Actor nod for his portrayal of billionaire J. Paul Getty. His competition in that category includes Willem Dafoe (as motel manager Bobby) for The Florida Project, Richard Jenkins and Three Billboards duo Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell.

The Supporting Actress lineup sees Lesley Manville, Laurie Metcalf and Octavia Spencer up against category favourite Allison Janney (as Tonya Harding’s abusive mother LaVona Golden) for I, Tonya and pop singer-turned actress Mary J. Blige (as sharecropper Florence Jackson) for Mudbound. The latter is also acknowledged for her song “Mighty River” from the same film.

There were some notable acting snubs with recent Golden Globe winner James Franco (The Disaster Artist) being overlooked following allegations of sexual misconduct along with the likes of Tom Hanks (The Post), Jessica Chastain (Molly’s Game), Hong Chau (Downsizing) and Holly Hunter (The Big Sick).

Elsewhere, a number of blockbusters received key mentions including Baby Driver, Beauty and the Beast, Blade Runner 2049, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, Kong: Skull Island, Logan and War for the Planet of the Apes. Despite its diverse reviews, Star Wars: The Last Jedi also performed well with four nods which include yet another Best Original Score nomination for the great John Williams.

Pixar’s Coco is the favourite to win Best Animated Film and is up against the likes of The Boss Baby, The Breadwinner and Ferdinand.

The biggest films to be ignored by the Academy altogether included Battle of the Sexes, Detroit, Downsizing, The LEGO Batman Movie, Murder on the Orient Express, Stronger and Wonder Woman.

The 90th Academy Awards ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday 4th March with Jimmy Kimmel hosting for the second year in a row.

The full list of Oscar nominations are below (winner predictions in blue):

BEST FILM
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
DARKEST HOUR
DUNKIRK
GET OUT
LADY BIRD
PHANTOM THREAD
THE POST
THE SHAPE OF WATER
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, PHANTOM THREAD
Greta Gerwig, LADY BIRD
Christopher Nolan, DUNKIRK
Jordan Peele, GET OUT
Guillermo del Toro, THE SHAPE OF WATER

BEST ACTOR
Timothee Chalamet, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
Daniel Day-Lewis, PHANTOM THREAD
Daniel Kaluuya, GET OUT
Gary Oldman, DARKEST HOUR
Denzel Washington, ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ.

BEST ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins, THE SHAPE OF WATER
Frances McDormand, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Margot Robbie, I, TONYA
Saoirse Ronan, LADY BIRD
Meryl Streep, THE POST

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe, THE FLORIDA PROJECT
Woody Harrelson, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Richard Jenkins, THE SHAPE OF WATER
Christopher Plummer, ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD
Sam Rockwell, THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mary J. Blige, MUDBOUND
Allison Janney, I, TONYA
Lesley Manville, PHANTOM THREAD
Laurie Metcalf, LADY BIRD
Octavia Spencer, THE SHAPE OF WATER

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE BIG SICK, Kumail Nanjiani & Emily V. Gordon
GET OUT, Jordan Peele
LADY BIRD, Greta Gerwig
THE SHAPE OF WATER, Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Martin McDonagh

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, James Ivory
THE DISASTER ARTIST, Scott Neustadfter & Michael H. Weber
LOGAN, Scott Frank, James Mangold & Michael Green
MOLLY’S GAME, Aaron Sorkin
MUDBOUND, Virgil Williams & Dee Rees

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, Sarah Greenwood & Katie Spencer
BLADE RUNNER 2049, Dennis Gassner & Alessandra Querzola
DARKEST HOUR, Sarah Greenwood & Katie Spencer
DUNKIRK, Nathan Crowley & Gary Fettis
THE SHAPE OF WATER, Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau & Jeff Melvin

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
BLADE RUNNER 2049, Roger Deakins
DARKEST HOUR, Bruno Delbonnel
DUNKIRK, Hoyte van Hoytema
MUDBOUND, Rachel Morrison
THE SHAPE OF WATER, Dan Lausten

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, Jacqueline Durran
DARKEST HOUR, Jacqueline Durran
PHANTOM THREAD, Mark Bridges
THE SHAPE OF WATER, Luis Sequeira
VICTORIA & ABDUL, Consolata Boyle

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
DARKEST HOUR, David Malinowski, Ivana Primorac, Lucy Sibbick & Kazuhiro TsujiI
VICTORIA & ABDUL, Daniel Phillips
WONDER, Naomi Bakstad, Robert A. Pandini & Arjen Tuiten

BEST EDITING
BABY DRIVER, Paul Machliss & Jonathan Amos
DUNKIRK, Lee Smith
I, TONYA, Tatiana S. Riegel
THE SHAPE OF WATER, Sidney Wolinsky
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Jon Gregory

BEST SOUND MIXING
BABY DRIVER, Tim Cavagin, Mary H. Ellis & Julian Slater
BLADE RUNNER 2049, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill & Mac Ruth
DUNKIRK, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo & Mark Weingarten
THE SHAPE OF WATER, Christian Cooke, Glen Gauthier & Brad Zoern
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick & Stuart Wilson

BEST SOUND EDITING
BABY DRIVER, Julian Slater
BLADE RUNNER 2049, Mark Mangini & Theo Green
DUNKIRK, Richard King & Alex Gibson
THE SHAPE OF WATER, Christian Cooke, Glen Gauthier, Nathan Robitaille & Brad Zoern
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Stuart Wilson & Matthew Wood

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
BLADE RUNNER 2049, John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert & Richard R. Hooverelson
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner & Dan Sudick
KONG: SKULL ISLAND, Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza & Mike Meinardus
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan & Chris Corbould
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon & Joel Whist

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
DUNKIRK, Hans Zimmer
PHANTOM THREAD, Johnny Greenwood
THE SHAPE OF WATER, Alexandre Desplat
STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, John Williams
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI, Carter Burwell

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, “Mystery of Love”
COCO, “Remember Me”
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, “This is Me”
MARSHALL, “Stand Up for Something”
MUDBOUND, “Mighty River”

BEST ANIMATED FILM
THE BOSS BABY
THE BREADWINNER
COCO
FERDINAND
LOVING VINCENT

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A FANTASTIC WOMAN (Chile)
THE INSULT (Lebanon)
LOVELESS (Russia)
ON BODY AND SOUL (Hungary)
THE SQUARE (Sweden)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL, Steve James, Mark Mitten & Julie Goldman
FACES PLACES, Agnès Varda, JR & Rosalie Varda
ICARUS, Bryan Fogel & Dan Cogan
LAST MEN IN ALEPPO, Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed & Søren Steen Jespersen
STRONG ISLAND, Yance Ford & Joslyn Barnes

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
EDITH + EDDIE
HEAVEN IS A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE 405
HEROIN(E)
KNIFE SKILLS
TRAFFIC STOP

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
DEAR BASKETBALL
GARDEN PARTY
LOU
NEGATIVE SPACE
REVOLTING RHYMES

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
DEKLAB ELEMENTARY
THE ELEVEN O’CLOCK
MY NEPHEW EMMETT
THE SILENT CHILD
WATU WOTE/ALL OF US