Academy Awards 2019 nominations have been announced on January 22, and it has been a predictable affair, with only a few surprises. Alfonso Cuaron's Roma and Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite that grabbed the maximum number of nominations with 10 each. Bradley Cooper's A Star is Born and Adam McKay's Vice gets 8 nominations. They have also dominated the acting categories with Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliot (A Star is Born), Yalitza Aparicio (Roma), Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell (Vice), Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz (The Favourite) all scoring nominations for themselves. Oscars 2019 Nominations: Roma, The Favourite, Black Panther Lead the Academy Award Nominees! Check Out the Full List Here!

While these movies' names making it big at the Oscars 2019 have been doing the rounds since the award season started, we expected the Academy Award jury to offer some surprises. There were a few of them for sure, and some of the snubs are highly alarming too. The award ceremony will be held on February 24. Oscars 2019: Indian Producer Guneet Monga’s Documentary on Menstruation ‘Period End of Sentence’ Nominated for Academy Award.

Let's look at the 15 main surprises that the Academy Award nominees 2019 have to offer us!

Black Panther Gets 7 Nominations

Black Panther has become the first superhero film to get Best Picture nomination, something the best superhero film of all time, The Dark Knight, cannot claim to have. In total, the movie bagged 7 nominations, just one short of The Dark Knight's tally of 8 noms, making it the second highest nominated superhero movie of all time. So congrats, Marvel! Whether, Black Panther deserves so many accolades, though, is a discussion for another day! Avengers Infinity War, Black Panther, Mission: Impossible Fallout - 10 Most Enjoyable Hollywood Films of 2018 That Released in India.

...But Misses Out on Visual Effects That Has Another Marvel Movie

Black Panther may have scored Best Picture nomination, as well as in Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. It, however, missed out on Best Visual Effects and rightly so. Black Panther has been criticised for some lacklustre CGI. In its place, the far superior Avengers Infinity War got nominated.

Aquaman is Brutally Rejected

While Avengers: Infinity War got nominated, along with films like Ready Player One, First Man et al, DC's superhero movie Aquaman has been looked over by the jury for the Best Special Effects. Which is surprising, since Aquaman's special effects have been really really good! What's shocking is that it didn't even make it to the Oscar shortlist. ‘F**king Disgrace’: Aquaman Director James Wan Hits Back at Oscars for Snubbing His Film from Visual Effects Category.

Richard E Grant Gets His First Oscar Nomination

Richard E Grant's career span goes over decades but this year is the first time he has got an Oscar nomination (Best Supporting Actor - Can You Ever Forgive Me?). Interestingly, even his co-star Melissa McCarthy has got a nomination for the Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Tim Blake Nelson's Interesting Nomination

Another popular Hollywood actor who has never got a nomination in Academy Awards before was Tim Blake Nelson. This is the first time he had got a nomination for a film, but it is not for an acting category. Nelson is, instead, nominated for Best Song, for his number “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. So it is going to be Tim Blake Nelson vs Lady Gaga for this category!

Roma get Nominated For both Best Actress Categories

Roma scored the best with the maximum number of nominations but the one that surprised us the most was for Best Actress category. Yalitza Aparicio has become the first Latina actress to get an Oscar nomination for the Best Actress, and we are loving it! Marina de Tavira also got a nomination in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

John David Washington is Ignored

This is very sad, since the young actor was absolutely fabulous as the main lead in the Spike Lee film. His co-star, Adam Driver scored a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor.

Lady Gaga Rules!

Her nomination was expected, and yet it sounds amazing! Who would have thought that Lady Gaga could be an Oscar-nominated actress one day? Not just that, there is a high chance that she could walk away with the award too. Unless a certain Glenn Close (The Wife) plays spoilsport.

But Bradley Cooper Fails To Get Best Director Nod

Remember the time when Ben Affleck was ignored for the Best Director by the jury when his film Argo was nominated (and also won) for the Best Picture? Bradley Cooper gets a similar treatment from the jury for A Star is Born. While he got a Best Actor nomination and his film is in the Best Picture nominees, Cooper failed to get the Best Director nomination for himself. In his place...

Cold War Gets Best Director Nom

The Polish film Cold War, is one of the two foreign language films, apart from Roma, to make inroads into the mainstream awards. It not only scored a nomination for the Best Cinematography, but also for the Best Director (Pawel Pawlikowski).

Nicole Kidman and Emily Blunt Get No Oscar Love!

Nicole Kidman had won rave reviews for her performances in Destroyer and Boy, Erased, and yet got not a single nomination. Similarly for Emily Blunt, who had a great year in 2018 with two fine performances in A Quiet Place and Mary Poppins Returns.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is Oscar Nominated

Solo: A Star Wars Story is the first flop of the entire Star Wars canon. And yet, it managed to score a nomination for the Best Visual Effects. Again, Aquaman's loss feels stinging!

Hereditary, First Reformed, A Quiet Place Gets The Short Shrift

Like I said before, the jury went for the usual suspects in the main category. However, the likes of First Reformed and A Quiet Place got just one nomination each, while Eighth Grade, Hereditary, Sorry To Bother You were royally ignored, despite being highly acclaimed. Also Mission: Impossible Fallout was overlooked too, even though it should have scored one nomination at least in the technical categories.

First Man Gets Ignored, Save For Technical Categories

Damian Chazelle's First Man was a very fine effort, but its underperformance at the box office has been taken to heart by the jury. It was ignored for all the main categories, though First Man scored four nominations in the technical categories.

Mirai In Best Animated Feature

Isle of Dogs, The Incredibles 2 and Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse will be competing to win the Best Animated Feature trophy. But making the battle far more interesting is the addition of Mirai, the Japanese film that's directed by Mamoru Hosoda for Studio Chizu. While it may not win the trophy, Mirai stands for Academy's initiative to look beyond Hollywood when it comes to animation.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 22, 2019 09:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).