Interesting trivia about this year's Oscar nominees...

Oscar odds and ends and facts and figures

By The Associated Press
Interesting oddities, facts, figures and trivia related to this year's Academy Awards nominees:

IN RARE AIR: "Up" is only the second animated feature film to receive an Oscar nomination for best picture. "Beauty and the Beast" was the first, nominated in 1991.

A BIG WIN BREWING?: Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker,") is just the fourth woman to be nominated for a best director Oscar and only the second American woman to receive the nod. The other, Sofia Coppola, was nominated in 2003. If Bigelow wins she would be the first woman to receive the award.

PROTECTING HER LEAD: Meryl Streep remains Oscar's most nominated performer, with this year's best-actress nod for portraying Julia Child in "Julie & Julia" bringing her total to 16. That's four ahead of Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson, who have 12 nominations apiece. But Hepburn, who died in 2003, still leads Oscar winners with four statuettes. Nicholson has three and Streep has two.

BACK IN BLACK (AND WHITE): "The White Ribbon" becomes only the ninth predominantly black-and-white movie to be nominated for a best cinematography Oscar since the Academy eliminated the separate black-and-white cinematography category in 1967. It joins "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "Good Night, and Good Luck" as the only ones since 2000.

BEST AND WORST: By the time Sandra Bullock learns whether she's won a best actress Oscar for her role in "The Blind Side," she'll also know whether she has received a Razzie for worst actress in another movie this year, "All About Steve." But whether she receives two trophies or one or none, Bullock can take solace in the fact her best and worst reviews didn't come for the same film, something that is unusual but not unprecedented. James Coco was nominated for an Oscar and a Razzie for his role in 1981's "Only When I Laugh" and so was Amy Irving for her part in 1983's "Yentl."

BIGGER, MUCH BIGGER: The expansion of the best picture nominee category to 10 films was seen as a way to get more mainstream movies popular with the general public into the running. By a sheer dollars-and-sense definition, the move appears to have been a success. Last year's five best picture nominees had grossed $185 million at the domestic box office by the time their nominations were announced. This year's 10 nominees have raked in $1.5 billion. Of course nearly $600 million of that comes from the blockbuster "Avatar." But four other nominees have also cracked the $100 million earnings mark. Of last year's five nominees, only one did, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."
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