West Side Story , Belfast storm Oscar race with 11 Critics Choice Awards nominations each: See the full list

As the Golden Globes' profile shrinks, the Critics Choice Awards have risen with their annual nominations for the best movies of 2021 in the run-up to the Oscars. And this year, Steven Spielberg's critically adored West Side Story and Kenneth Branagh's semi-autobiographical historical drama Belfast have reaped the benefits.

The Broadcast Film Critics Association bestowed 11 nominations on both films Monday morning, solidifying their stance as two of the mightiest contenders in the Oscars' race for Best Picture — a category that also included Netflix's ensemble apocalyptic satire Don't Look Up and Apple's family drama CODA, which has surged in recent weeks as a potential dark horse in the awards race.

Following close behind both films' total nominations haul were Denis Villeneuve's Dune and Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog with 10, and Nightmare Alley and Licorice Pizza with eight overall nods.

Nearly all of Belfast's ensemble received individual acting nominations, including Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, and Caitríona Balfe, as did West Side Story's supporting turns from Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose.

Elsewhere on the acting side, Pig star Nicolas Cage bounded one step closer to a potential Oscar nod with a visibility boost from the BFCA in Best Actor alongside current contest mainstays like Will Smith (King Richard) and Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog). Lady Gaga and Kristen Stewart continued their upwards trajectory through the race with nods for their work in House of Gucci and Spencer, respectively, as did CODA's Troy Kotsur and King Richard's Aunjanue Ellis in the supporting categories.

Niko Tavernise/ 20th Century Fox; Rob Youngson / Focus Features; KIRSTY GRIFFIN/Netflix Rachel Zegler in 'West Side Story,' Caitriona Balfe in 'Belfast,' and Benedict Cumberbatch in 'The Power of the Dog.'

Amid the Golden Globes' attempt to come back from a racial-exclusion scandal that led to NBC announcing it wouldn't broadcast the celebrity-heavy ceremony in 2022, EW spoke to several industry insiders who touted the BFCA as the likely heir to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's slot on the awards trail given that both groups are made up of working journalists.

Though it is a major visibility booster on the awards trail, the BFCA's nominations are not an indicator of Oscar taste, as the Academy shares no crossover membership with the journalist collective that incorporates hundreds of TV, radio, and print critics. The Critics Choice Awards are, however, accurate when it comes to taking the awards season temperature, as their picks usually dovetail with the Academy's.

Over the last decade, the Critics Choice Awards have predicted Oscar's eventual Best Picture champion winner six times, including last year's Chloé Zhao-directed drama Nomadland. That number holds at six for Best Actor contenders, and dips to five for the Best Actress contest over the same period. Last year, both Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) and Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman) won the lead acting awards from the BFCA, but ultimately lost the corresponding Oscar to Anthony Hopkins (The Father) and Frances McDormand (Nomadland), respectively.

Last week, the Critics Choice Awards also announced its annual slate of TV nominees, including multiple nods for Succession, Mare of Easttown, and Evil.

The 2022 Critics Choice Awards will be handed out Sunday, Jan. 9, during a live broadcast on TBS and TNT. See the full list of nominations below.

Best Picture

Belfast
CODA
Don't Look Up
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
tick, tick…Boom!
West Side Story

Best Actor

Nicolas Cage, Pig
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Peter Dinklage, Cyrano
Andrew Garfield – tick, tick…Boom!
Will Smith, King Richard
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Lady Gaga, House of Gucci
Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart, Spencer

Best Supporting Actor

Jamie Dornan, Belfast
Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
Troy Kotsur, CODA
Jared Leto, House of Gucci
J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog

Best Supporting Actress

Caitríona Balfe, Belfast
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Ann Dowd, Mass
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Rita Moreno, West Side Story

Best Young Actor/Actress

Jude Hill, Belfast
Cooper Hoffman, Licorice Pizza
Emilia Jones, CODA
Woody Norman, C'mon C'mon
Saniyya Sidney, King Richard
Rachel Zegler, West Side Story

Best Acting Ensemble

Belfast
Don't Look Up
The Harder They Fall
Licorice Pizza
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Guillermo del Toro, Nightmare Alley
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Denis Villeneuve, Dune

Best Original Screenplay

Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Zach Baylin, King Richard
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Adam McKay, David Sirota, Don't Look Up
Aaron Sorkin, Being the Ricardos

Best Adapted Screenplay

Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
Siân Heder, CODA
Tony Kushner, West Side Story
Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth, Dune

Best Cinematography

Bruno Delbonnel, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Greig Fraser, Dune
Janusz Kaminski, West Side Story
Dan Laustsen, Nightmare Alley
Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog
Haris Zambarloukos, Belfast

Best Production Design

Jim Clay, Claire Nia Richards, Belfast
Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau, Nightmare Alley
Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo, The French Dispatch
Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo, West Side Story
Patrice Vermette, Zsuzsanna Sipos, Dune

Best Film Editing

Sarah Broshar and Michael Kahn, West Side Story
Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, Belfast
Andy Jurgensen, Licorice Pizza
Peter Sciberras, The Power of the Dog
Joe Walker, Dune

Best Costume Design

Jenny Beavan – Cruella
Luis Sequeira – Nightmare Alley
Paul Tazewell – West Side Story
Jacqueline West, Robert Morgan – Dune
Janty Yates – House of Gucci

Best Hair and Makeup

Cruella
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
House of Gucci
Nightmare Alley

Best Visual Effects

Dune
The Matrix Resurrections
Nightmare Alley
No Time to Die
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Best Comedy

Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Don't Look Up
Free Guy
The French Dispatch
Licorice Pizza

Best Animated Feature

Encanto
Flee
Luca
The Mitchells vs the Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon

Best Foreign Language Film

A Hero
Drive My Car
Flee
The Hand of God
The Worst Person in the World

Best Song

"Be Alive," King Richard
"Dos Oruguitas," Encanto
"Guns Go Bang," The Harder They Fall
"Just Look Up," Don't Look Up
"No Time to Die," No Time to Die

Best Score

Nicholas Britell, Don't Look Up
Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog
Jonny Greenwood, Spencer
Nathan Johnson, Nightmare Alley
Hans Zimmer, Dune

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