Top names in Hollywood will gather on March 15 to hand out the annual Academy Awards at a red-carpet ceremony brimming with drama in the major races.
One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a one-time political radical now parenting a teenager, was seen as the front runner for the coveted best picture prize after stacking up trophy after trophy at recent ceremonies.
The vampire story Sinners, a celebration of blues music and black culture in the segregation-era US South, made a late surge with a win at the Actor Awards on March 1. It leads with 16 nominations, a record number in the nearly 100-year history of the Oscars.
Jessie Buckley is seen as a sure thing for best actress. She is nominated for playing Agnes Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, as the couple navigate the death of their 11-year-old son in Hamnet.
The remainder of the top categories have no clear front-runner, according to Hollywood awards watchers.
