The Oscar nominations for 2006 are topped by the musical Dreamgirls, which leads contenders with eight nominations.
The drama movie Babel scores second with seven nominations, including picture and acting honors for two newcomers on the US screens.
The gothic fairy tale Pan's Labyrinth had six nominations, including best foreign-language film.
Other best-picture nominees were the bloody crime saga The Departed, the World War II spectacle Letters From Iwo Jima, the comedy Little Miss Sunshine and the monarchy chronicle The Queen.
Front-runners in all four acting categories nabbed nominations are Britain's Helen Mirren for best actress as British monarch Elizabeth II in The Queen; Forest Whitaker for best actor as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland; and Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson as soulful singers in Dreamgirls.
The best-actress category features a 14th nomination for two-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep, for her role of the boss in The Devil Wears Prada.