The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road lead the Oscar race

The struggle for survival appears to be here to stay as a mode of storytelling, if this year's batch of Oscar nominees is anything to go by. Both The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road - otherwise markedly different films that both feature Tom Hardy and pit their protagonists through harsh environments - lead the way with 12 and 10 nominations each. 

But 'Fury Road' may just be the diamond in the rough here, as the box office-friendly and critically lauded action-reboot is something of an anomaly among the otherwise pretty strait-laced middlebrow dramas and bravura turns from decorated directors that populate all the categories this year. 

The only other exception here could be Sylvester Stallone, who emerged from the action-cliche nostalgia trip of The Expendables series to delve into nostalgia of a different kind with Creed: a Rocky sequel 'by stealth' that has nabbed him a Supporting Actor role that may be seen as either the ultimate comeback or a capstone on a - wait for it - rocky late career. 

Leonardo Di Caprio losing out on the Best Actor gong for Wolf of Wall Street back in 2013 made for a great source of internet humour, and the gallery is on tenterhooks to see whether the Academy will finally bestow him with the award after six consecutive nominations.

The competition is solid but hardly groundbreaking: The Theory of Everything star Eddie Redmayne - a heartthrob for at least one member of this newsroom - may be the second most attention-grabbing entry in the list, with his turn as the pioneering transgender painter Einar Wegener; while Breaking Bad fans may wish to see Bryan Cranston steal the limelight from under Di Caprio thanks to his nomination, courtesy of Hollywood-blacklist drama Trumbo.  

The Best Actress race certainly has two starting runners: Jennifer Lawrence for Joy (already an Oscar favourite) and Cate Blanchett, for 1950s lesbian drama Carol by acclaimed director Todd Haynes. 

Full list of nominations: 

Best Picture

Spotlight

The Revenant

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn

Room

The Martian

Lead Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Matt Damon, The Martian

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Lead Actress

Brie Larson, Room

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Jennifer Lawrence, Joy

Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years

Director

Alejandro Iñárritu, The Revenant

George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Adam McKay, The Big Short

Lenny Abrahamson, Room

Supporting Actress

Rooney Mara, Carol

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Rachel McAdams, Spotlight

Supporting Actor

Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

Christian Bale, The Big Short

Tom Hardy, The Revenant

Foreign Language Film

Son of Saul

Mustang

A War

Embrace of the Serpent

Theeb

Best Original Song

"Earned It," Fifty Shades of Grey

"Manta Ray," Racing Extinction

"Simple Song #3," Youth

"Til It Happens to You," The Hunting Ground

"Writing's on the Wall," Spectre

Adapted Screenplay

Carol

The Big Short

Brooklyn

The Martian

Room

Original Screenplay

Spotlight

Bridge of Spies

Ex Machina

Straight Outta Compton

Inside Out

Original Score

The Hateful Eight

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Carol

Bridge of Spies

Film Editing

The Revenant

Mad Max: Fury Road

Spotlight

The Big Short

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Production Design

Mad Max: Fury Road

Bridge of Spies

The Martian

The Danish Girl

The Revenant

Visual Effects

Mad Max: Fury Road

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The Revenant

The Martian

Ex Machina

Cinematography

Carol

The Hateful Eight

Mad Mad: Fury Road

The Revenant

Sicario

Documentary Short

Body Team 12

Chau, beyond the lines

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness

Last Day of Freedom

Documentary Feature

Amy

Cartel Land

The Look of Silence

What Happened Miss Simone

Winter on Fire

Costume Design

Carol

Cinderella

The Danish Girl

Mad Max

The Revenant

Sound Editing

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Sound Mixing

Bridge of Spies

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Makeup and Hair Styling

Mad Max: Fury Road

The 100-Year-Old Man Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared

The Revenant

Live Action Short Film

Ave Maria

Day One

Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)

Shok

Stutter

Animated Short

Bear Story

Prologue

Sanjay’s Super Team

We Can’t Live Without Cosmos

World of Tomorrow

Animated Feature Film

Anomalisa

Boy and the World

Inside Out

Shaun the Sheep Movie

When Marine Was There