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• Noteworthy inclusions: “Winter’s Bone” for best picture; Ethan Coen and Joel Coen (“True Grit”) for best director; Javier Bardem (“Biutiful”) for best actor; Jeremy Renner (“The Town”) and John Hawkes (“Winter’s Bone”) for best supporting actor; Hailee Steinfeld (“True Grit”) and Jacki Weaver (“Animal Kingdom”) for best supporting actress; “The Illusionist” for best animated film (feature); “GasLand,” “Restrepo,” and “Waste Land” for best documentary film (feature); Greece (“Dogtooth”) for best foreign language film; “I Am Love” for best costume design; “127 Hours” for best film editing; “Barney’s Version” and “The Way Back” for best makeup; “Unstoppable” for best sound editing; “Hereafter” and “Iron Man 2” for best visual effects.

• Noteworthy snubs: “Blue Valentine” and “The Town” for best picture; Christopher Nolan (“Inception”) for best director; Robert Duvall (“Get Low”), Ryan Gosling (“Blue Valentine”), and Mark Wahlberg (“The Fighter”) for best actor; Julianne Moore (“The Kids Are All Right”) for best actress; Matt Damon (“True Grit”) and Andrew Garfield (“The Social Network”) for best supporting actor; Mila Kunis (“Black Swan”) for best supporting actress; “Black Swan” for best original screenplay; “Tangled” for best animated film (feature); “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” “The Tillman Story,” and “Waiting for ‘Superman’” for best documentary film (feature); South Africa (“Life Above All”) for best foreign language film; “Black Swan” for best art direction; “Black Swan” for best costume design; “Inception” for best film editing; “Alice in Wonderland” for best makeup; “Alice in Wonderland” for best original score; “Shine” (“Waiting for ‘Superman’”), “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” (“Burlesque”) for best original song; “Black Swan” for best sound editing; “Black Swan” for best sound mixing; “TRON: Legacy” for best visual effects.

• “The King’s Speech” leads the field with 12 nominations. (The film with the most nominations has won best picture approximately 75% of the time, but not as frequently in recent years.) Only 11 films have received more nominations.
  • They are: “All About Eve” (1950) and “Titanic” (1997) with 14 and “Gone with the Wind” (1939), “From Here to Eternity” (1953), “Mary Poppins” (1964), “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966), “Forrest Gump” (1994), “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001), “Chicago” (2002), and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2008) with 13. (Of the 13 films that previously received 12 nods, like “The King’s Speech,” 8 — or 62% — went on to win the best picture Oscar.)
  • As Sasha Stone and I discussed over Twitter earlier today, there are two interesting stats to keep in mind when considering the best picture race between “The King’s Speech,” with its 12 nominations, and “The Social Network,” with its 8 nominations: In 1943, the last time that the Academy had 10 nominees prior to last year’s awards, “The Song of Bernadette,” which had 12 nods, lost best picture to “Casablanca,” which had 8 nods. (Overall, “Casablanca” won 3 awards and “The Song of Bernadette” won 4 awards.) Conversely, in 1942, “Mrs. Miniver,” which had 12 nods and is a film in which “everyone displays strength of character in the face of tragedy and destruction,” won best picture over “The Magnificent Ambersons,” which had fewer nods and is a film about the impact of a major technological advance on American society.

• No film has won best picture without having garnered a best director nomination since “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989). Therefore, it is highly likely that the eventual best picture winner will be one of the following films: “The Social Network,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Fighter,” “Black Swan,” or “True Grit” (and not “Inception”).

• No film has won best picture without having garnered a best adapted screenplay or best original screenplay nomination since “Titanic” (1997). Therefore, it is highly likely that the eventual best picture winner will not be: “Black Swan.”

• “The Fighter” and “The King’s Speech” lead the field with 3 acting acting nominations each: Christian Bale for best supporting actor, and both Amy Adams and Melissa Leo for best supporting actress for the former; Colin Firth for best actor, Geoffrey Rush for best supporting actor, and Helena Bonham Carter for best supporting actress for the latter.

• Today brings the following actors the first nomination(s) of their career: Darren Aronofsky, Christian Bale, Jesse Eisenberg, James Franco, John Hawkes, Tom Hooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Mark Ruffalo, David O. Russell, Hailee Steinfeld, and Jacki Weaver. (Of the previous nominees, four are previous winners: Javier Bardem, Jeff Bridges, Nicole Kidman, and Geoffrey Rush.)

• Darla K. Anderson (“Toy Story 3”) becomes just the 7th female producer to be solely nominated for best picture. (All other female producers were co-nominees.)

• Jeff Bridges (“True Grit”), who won best actor last year, earns the 6th acting nomination of his career. Only 10 males have received more.
  • They are: Jack Nichoslon (12), Laurence Olivier (10), Paul Newman (9), Spencer Tracy (9), Marlon Brando (8), Jack Lemmon (8), Peter O’Toole (8), Al Pacino (8), Richard Burton (7), and Dustin Hoffman (7).

• James Franco (“127 Hours”) will become the 8th person to host or c0-host the Academy Awards in a year in which he is also a nominee.
  • The others were: Frank Capra when he was nominated for — and won — best director for “You Can’t Take It with You” (1938); David Niven when he was nominated for — and won — best actor for “Separate Tables” (1958); Michael Caine when he was nominated for best actor for “Sleuth” (1972); Walter Matthau when he was nominated for best actor for “The Sunshine Boys” (1975); Jeff Bridges when he was nominated for best actor for “Starman” (1984); Glenn Close when she was nominated for best supporting actress for “The Natural” (1983); and Paul Hogan when he was nominated for best original screenplay for “Crocodile Dundee” (1986).

• “Toy Story 3” becomes the 3rd animated film to be nominated for best picture.
  • The others were: “Beauty and the Beast” (1991), in the era of 5 best picture nominees, and “Up” (2009), in the era of 10 best picture nominees.

• Scott Rudin (“The Social Network” and “True Grit”) becomes the 10th producer to have more than one film receive a best picture nomination in a single year.
  • The others were: Pandro S. Berman, Henry Blanke, Harry Cohn, Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Franklin, Ernst Lubitsch, Winfield Sheehan, Hal B. Wallis (five times), and Sam Zimbalist. (Coppola and Rudin are the only producers to personally receive two nods in a single year, since individual producers only began receiving Oscar nods when their films were nominated for best picture in 1951.)

• Randy Newman earns his 20th nomination for the song “We Belong Together” (“Toy Story 3”) and Alan Menken earns his 19th nomination for the song “I See the Light” (“Tangled”). Newman has won once; with eight wins, Menken holds the record for most Oscar victories by a living person.

• Jeff Bridges (“True Grit”) and Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech”) become the 27th and 28th person to earn at least two consecutive best actor nominations. (Last year, Firth was nominated for “A Single Man” last year, and Bridges was nominated — and won — for “Crazy Heart.”)
  • The others were: Richard Burton, Charles Boyer, Marlon Brando (two streaks), Gary Cooper, Russell Crowe, Robert De Niro, James Dean, Johnny Depp, Robert Donat, Albert Finney, Clark Gable, Tom Hanks, Rex Harrison, William Hurt, Jack Lemmon, Paul Muni, Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, Peter O’Toole, Laurence Oliver, Al Pacino, Gregory Peck, Walter Pidgeon, George C. Scott, James Stewart, and Spencer Tracy (two streaks).

• Jeremy Renner (“The Town”) becomes the 5th person to earn a best actor nomination and a best supporting actor nomination in back-to-back years (though not necessarily in that order).
  • The others were: Robert Duvall (twice), Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson, and Al Pacino.

• Amy Adams and Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”) become the 32nd set of co-stars to be nominated in the best supporting actress category.
  • In only 10 prior instances (32%) did one win the award over the other(s).

• Actors Nicole Kidman (“Rabbit Hole”), Jeremy Renner (“The Town”), (“Jacki WeaverAnimal Kingdom”), and Michelle Williams (“Blue Valentine”) account for the sole nomination for their respective films.

• This year, for the first time since 2000, there is not a single person of color among the acting and directing nominees.

• Javier Bardem (“Biutiful”) has given only the 34th performance delivered largely or entirely in a foreign language (Spanish, in his case) to be nominated for an acting Oscar.
  • Bardem also gave one of the prior 33, a decade ago, in “Before Night Falls” (2003), for which he also received a best actor nod.

• Jeff Bridges (“True Grit”) makes Rooster Cogburn the 16th character to earn more than one person an Oscar nod.
  • The others: Leslie Crosbie in “The Letter” (1929 and 1940); Norman Maine in “A Star Is Born” (1937 and 1954); Vicki Lester in “A Star Is Born” (1937 and 1954); Charles “Chips” Chipping in “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1939 and 1969); King Henry V in “Henry V” (1944 and 1989); King Henry VIII in “The Private Life of Henry VIII” (1933), “A Man for All Seasons” (1966), and “Anne of the Thousand Days” (1969); Henry Higgins in “Pygmalion” (1938) and “My Fair Lady” (1964); Joe Pendleton in “Here Comes Mr. Jordan” (1941) and “Heaven Can Wait” (1978); Cyrano de Bergerac in “Cyrano de Bergerac” (1950 and 1990); Vito Corleone in “The Godfather” (1972) and “The Godfather, Part II” (1974); Howard Hughes in “Melvin and Howard” (1980) and “The Aviator” (2004); Rose DeWitt Butaker in “Titanic” (1997); Queen Elizabeth I in “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), “Elizabeth” (1998), and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2007); Iris Murdoch in “Iris” (2001); and Richard Nixon in “Nixon” (1995) and “Frost/Nixon” (2008). (Only Corleone brought Oscars to both of the actors who played him.)

• Jacki Weaver (“Animal Kingdom”) becomes the 7th Australian to be nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar and and the 15th Australian to be nominated for an acting Oscar.
  • The prior six best supporting actress nominees were Judith Anderson, Diane Cilento, Judy Davis, Rachel Griffiths, Toni Collette, and Cate Blanchett (Blanchett is the only one who won); the prior 14 overall were Anderson, Blanchett, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Cilento, Collette, Russell Crowe, Davis, Peter Finch, Griffiths, Nicole Kidman, Heath Ledger, May Robson, Geoffrey Rush, and Naomi Watts (Blanchett, Crowe, Finch, Kidman, Ledger, and Rush all won).

• Ethan Coen and Joel Coen (“True Grit”) become the 5th and 6th people to earn best picture, best director, and best screenplay nominations for two or more films. (They previously achieved this same feat with “No Country for Old Men” three years ago)
  • The others: Warren Beatty, Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Jackson, Stanley Kubrick (the only one who did it three times), and Oliver Stone.

• There are more acting nominees under the age of 30 than any time in recent memory: Jesse Eisenberg (27), Jennifer Lawrence (20), Natalie Portman (29), and Hailee Steinfeld (14).

• Jennifer Lawrence (“Winter’s Bone”) becomes the 4th youngest best actress nominee.
  • The 3 youngest were Keisha Castle-Hughes, Isabelle Adjani, and Keira Knightley.
    

• Mike Leigh (“Another Year”) receives his fifth best original screenplay nomination — despite the fact that he has never actually written a screenplay!
  • As Leigh explained to me, “That’s just a question of me sitting down with a DVD and writing it down on paper after the film’s completely finished.”

• This year’s best picture nominees were all released during the second half of the calendar year, but 4 were released pre-August. That’s a surprisingly high number considering that the vast majority of industry and media attention to the awards season is devoted to the tail end of that period.
  • “Winter’s Bone” (June 11), “Toy Story 3” (June 18), “The Kids Are All Right” (July 9), “Inception” (July 16), “The Social Network” (October 1), “127 Hours” (November 5), “The King’s Speech” (November 26), “Black Swan” (December 3), “The Fighter” (December 10), and “True Grit” (December 22).

• This year’s leaderboard for nominations by studio:
  • Paramount (20 total — 10 for “True Grit” + 7 for “The Fighter” + 2 for “How to Train Your Dragon” + 1 for “Iron Man 2“)
  • The Weinstein Company (13 total — 12 for “The King’s Speech” + 1 for “Blue Valentine“)
  • Warner Brothers (12 total — 8 for “Inception” + 2 for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” + 1 for “Hereafter” + 1 for “The Town“)
  • Fox Searchlight (11 total — 6 for “127 Hours” + 5 for “Black Swan“)
  • Disney/Pixar (10 total — 5 for “Toy Story 3” + 3 for “Alice in Wonderland” + 1 for “Tangled” + 1 for “TRON: Legacy“)
  • Sony/Columbia (9 total — 8 for “The Social Network” + 1 for “Salt“)
  • Sony Pictures Classics (7 total — 1 for “Animal Kingdom” + 1 for “Another Year” + 1 for “Barney’s Version” + 1 for “The Illusionist” + 1 for “In a Better World” + 1 for “Incendies” + 1 for “Inside Job“)
  • Roadside Attractions (6 total — 4 for “Winter’s Bone” + 2 for “Biutiful“)
  • Focus Features (4 total — 4 for “The Kids Are All Right“)
  • 20th Century Fox (1 total — 1 for “Unstoppable“)
  • Lionsgate (1 total — 1 for “Rabbit Hole“)
  • Magnolia (1 total — 1 for “I Am Love“)
  • Miramax (1 total — 1 for “The Tempest“)
  • National Geographic (1 total — 1 for “Restrepo“)
  • Newmarket (1 total — 1 for “The Way Back“)
  • Screen Gems (1 total — 1 for “Country Strong“)
  • Universal (1 total — 1 for “The Wolfman“)

• In case you had any illusions that the world is fair, “Country Strong,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1,” “Hereafter,” “Iron Man 2,” “Salt,” “The Tempest,” “TRON: Legacy,” “Unstoppable,” and “The Wolfman” are Oscar nominees, but “The American,” “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” “Fair Game,” “Get Low,” “The Ghost Writer,” “Greenberg,” “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” “Love and Other Drugs,” “Made in Dagenham,” “Never Let Me Go,” “Nowhere Boy,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” “Secretariat,” “Shutter Island,” “Solitary Man,” “Somewhere,” “Stone,” “The Tillman Story,” and “Waiting for ‘Superman’” are not.

Photo: Mo’Nique and Tom Sherak announce the nominees. Credit: ABC News.