DiCaprio's Revenant leads Oscar nominations with 12

The Revenant, the 20th Century Fox film featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, was nominated for a dozen Oscars

The Revenant, the 20th Century Fox frontier revenge tale featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, was nominated for a dozen Academy Awards, including for best picture, leading the pack in the annual race for Hollywood's highest honours.

Mad Max: Fury Road, the Warner Bros dystopian revival story, garnered 10 nominations, including best picture, to place second, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced Thursday in Beverly Hills, California. Eight movies will be vying for the top prize of best picture, including the oddsmakers' favourite Spotlight.

For films still in theatres, like The Revenant, the nominations are an opportunity to pull in more fans in the weeks leading up to the late February Oscars telecast. Movies out on home video benefit, too. The Martian was the top-selling film for online rental and sale as the year came to a close, according to Rentrak Corp an industry researcher.

In addition to The Revenant and Mad Max, another Fox movie, Matt Damon's sci-fi story of survival in The Martian, will vie for top picture. The other nominees include Room, Brooklyn, The Big Short, and Bridge of Spies.

A diverse lineup of films has made this year's awards season tough to predict. Going into the nominations, the favourite was Spotlight, about the Boston Globe's coverage of widespread sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests.

The Revenant and The Martian got a boost after winning the top prizes at the Golden Globes earlier this month. Their respective directors also were among five nominated for prizes from the Directors Guild of America, whose winners often align with the Oscars.

The 88th Academy Awards will be held February 28 in Hollywood, carried live on Walt Disney Co's ABC network and broadcast in more than 225 countries.

Comedian Chris Rock, who first hosted the program in 2005, returns as emcee for a second time. Last year's show attracted a US audience of 37.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen data.