Martin Scorsese's adventure film “Hugo” which explores the early days of cinema from a child’s point of view led the 2012 Academy Awards with 11 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director while “The Artist” earned 10 as George Clooney and Meryl Streep emerged as frontrunners for best actor and actress. The nominees for Academy Awards 2012 were announced on Tuesday morning, January 24 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater by Tom Sherak, AMPAS president, and Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence. The 2012 Oscars will air on February 26, 2012 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California and Billy Crystal will serve as host for the evening, replacing Eddie Murphy, who was originally slated to host.
The other nominations for Best Picture are The Descendants, The Help, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.