’The Power of the Dog’ leads Oscar nominations with 12

Jane Campion's gothic Western "The Power of the Dog" led the Oscars nominations on Feb. 8, as the Netflix film fended off big-screen studio movies from a year in which COVID-weary audiences slowly headed back into theaters.

The eerie, psychological drama about a repressed 1920s cattle rancher in Montana earned 12 nods ahead of next month's Oscars gala, including best director, making Campion the first female auteur nominated twice in Academy Award history.

"The Power of the Dog" was also nominated for best picture, and landed acting nods for Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Campion was last nominated 28 years ago for "The Piano."

"I'm so deeply honored. And over the moon to say the least that we were all recognized for our work together," Smit-McPhee said on Twitter.

The streaming film held off a number of giant cinematic spectacles -- many of which were pushed back into 2021, as theaters were closed the year before due to the coronavirus pandemic in the diverse race for Hollywood's biggest awards.

Sprawling sci-fi epic "Dune," which premiered in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously, landed in second place overall with 10 nods, including one for best picture.

As expected, the adaptation of Frank Herbert's popular 1965 novel set on a desert planet plagued by monstrous sandworms scored well across technical categories including cinematography, visual effects and sound. But its director Denis Villeneuve was surprisingly overlooked by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Other coveted directing nods went to Kenneth Branagh for black-and-white childhood drama "Belfast" and Steven Spielberg for musical "West Side Story," with each film securing seven nominations...