As expected, Academy voters also rewarded blockbusters such as Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water for helping to bring audiences back to cinemas after the pandemic.

Both were nominated for best picture, Tinseltown’s most coveted prize, although another crowd-pleaser, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, missed out.

The remaining best picture slots went to rock 'n' roll biopic Elvis, Steven Spielberg’s quasi-memoir The Fabelmans, Cate Blanchett’s latest tour-de-force Tár, Cannes festival winner Triangle of Sadness and literary adaptation Women Talking.

Everything Everywhere All At Once earned four acting nominations for its cast, including best supporting actor for Ke Huy Quan, who appeared as a child in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom almost four decades ago, and best lead actress for Michelle Yeoh.

Yeoh became the first Asian actor nominated for best actress and will compete with double Oscar-winner Blanchett for the prize.

But there was controversy elsewhere in the lead actress category, as no black women were nominated, despite Viola Davis (The Woman King) and Danielle Deadwyler (Till) having been seen as front runners.

Instead the remaining slots went to Ana de Armas (Blonde), Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans) and Andrea Riseborough for tiny indie film To Leslie, which mounted an unusual, late celebrity-backed campaign for its star.

In the other individual categories, Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Austin Butler (Elvis) are clear favourites for best actor.

The remaining nominations went to Paul Mescal for critical darling indie film Aftersun and Bill Nighy in Living.

Spielberg made the best director shortlist, but no women were nominated in the category, sparking quick social media backlash.

Speaking before the nominations, Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis said this was one of the more unpredictable Oscars, in part due to the recent massive growth in the number of international Academy voters.

Those members have been credited with surprises such as South Korea’s Parasite winning best picture in 2020.

This year they got behind All Quiet on the Western Front, which is distributed by Netflix.

The World War I drama has built major momentum, scooping a massive 14 nods last week for Britain’s Baftas.

S.S. Rajamouli’s three-hour Indian action epic RRR got one nomination, for best song for M.M. Keeravaani’s Naatu Naatu. It was not eligible for the international film category as India submitted another film.

Actors Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) and Allison Williams (Girls) unveiled the Oscar nominations on Tuesday morning from Los Angeles.

Television ratings for award shows including the Oscars have trended downwards, as Academy voters in recent years have veered toward honouring lesser-known indie hits like Nomadland and CODA.

Many in the industry were hoping for a healthy spread of nominations among 2022’s crowd-pleasing sequels, which were sorely needed as giants such as Cineworld, the world’s second biggest cinema chain, filed for bankruptcy protection.

James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar: The Way of Water, which sailed past the US$2 billion mark globally last weekend, earned four nominations including best picture, production design, sound and visual effects.

Top Gun: Maverick, Cruise’s long-awaited sequel to his huge 1986 hit which came out in May during highly uncertain times for cinemas and earned around US$1.5 billion, received six – best picture, editing, song, sound, visual effects and adapted screenplay.

“That’s the one that feels like it could actually win best picture,” said Davis, before the announcement.

“What better story the day after the Oscars air, than that the movie that saved movies was named the best movie? That’s a good story to tell.”

Additional reporting by Associated Press