Oscar nominations 2013

Steven Spielberg's biopic of the 16th president of the United States continues its apparently unstoppable progress towards Oscars glory. But a surprisingly eclectic selection of Oscar nominations threw some stones in its path today.

Life of Pi, Ang Lee's adaptation of the Yann Martel Booker winner came in second with 11 nominations, four of them in major categories, while David O Russell's screwball rom-com Silver Linings Playbook won nominations in eight categories, seven of them major – with surprise nods for supporting actors Jacki Weaver and Robert De Niro. Les Miserables, Tom Hooper's epic adaptation of the musical smash, also won eight, just beating Ben Affleck's Argo (on seven).

There was more good news for Britain's Working Title with a surprise four nominations for Joe Wright's Anna Karenina, while Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond film, picked up five nominations - although not a coveted best picture nod.

Quentin Tarantino's controversial Django Unchained and Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, performed much less well than predicted; both earning just five.

That's the same number as went to Amour, Michael Haneke's austere drama about an elderly couple coping after one of them suffers a stroke. As well as a predicted nomination for best foreign film, Haneke's Palme d'Or winner is up for best picture, best director, best original screenplay and best actress. Emmanuelle Riva, 85, is the oldest ever contender in this category; she's up against the youngest ever – Quvenzhané Wallis, now 9, and the star of Beasts of the Southern Wild.

That film also found unexpected favour with the Academy, winning four nominations – including one for best picture (and others for adapted screenplay and best director).

Benh Zeitlin, Michael Haneke and David O Russell's best director nods look to have pushed out Tom Hooper, Kathryn Bigelow and Quentin Tarantino, all of whom started the season looking the more likely picks.

And while the huge haul of 11 nods for Ang Lee's film were by and large accumulated by its technical team, the eight nominations for Russell's film were picked up mostly by its on-screen talent. It's the first film since Reds in 1981 to be nominated in all four acting categories.

Lincoln had long been tipped as the Academy's likely recipient of the lion's share of its gongs; a prediction concretised when the film came out as the frontrunner for both the Baftas (where it leads the pack with 10 nominations) and the Golden Globes.

How many of its seven nods there it manages to covert into wins will be revealed on Sunday evening when the Globe winners are announced at a ceremony hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (and which the Guardian will be liveblogging from America).

The Oscar nominations were announced by host Seth MacFarlane, along with Emma Stone, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, where the ceremony will take place on February 24.

It was an unusually irreverent nominations announcement, with MacFarlane claiming to be drunk, making references to Hitler and congratulating the best supporting actress nominees with the words: "You ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein."