Critics Choice Nominees Include (a Few) Fantasy Nods

The nominees announced this week for the Critics Choice Awards, ushering in the annual Hollywood awards season, include a handful of nods to this year's coterie of fantasy films. The awards, presented by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, are closely watched as predictors of the field from which Oscar nominees will be selected.

The best showing made by a genre film was Enchanted, with four nominations. The nominations were led by Sean Penn's Into the Wild and Juno. No science fiction films were nominated for a 2007 CCA.

None of the ten Best Picture nominees are genre films; among the top tier of awards the lonely sci-fi or fantasy nominee is Amy Adams, the enchanting heroine of the Disney self-parody Enchanted, in the Best Actress category. (Her song, "That's How You Know", was also nominated, along with Enchanted composer Alan Menken.) Sci-Fi Channel's Tin Man was nominated for movie made for TV.

Other genre nominees include:

• Beowulf for Animated Feature
• Dakota Blue Richards (The Golden Compass) and AnnaSophia Robb (Bridge to Terabithia) for Best Young Actress
• Enchanted, The Golden Compass, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for Best Family Film

For a complete list of nominees, go to the BFCA web site. The 13th annual Critics Choice Awards ceremony will take place on Jan. 7 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, and will be broadcast on VH1.