By Rob Woollard
Agence France-Presse

BEVERLY HILLS–The race for the Oscars enters the final lap here Thursday with drama “Slumdog Millionaire” vying for top honors as nominations for the 81st Academy Awards are revealed.

After sweeping a series of awards in the build-up to Thursday’s pre-dawn announcement at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Mumbai-set “Slumdog Millionaire” is regarded as a certainty to earn nominations in the best picture and best director categories.

A rags-to-riches love story about a contestant on India’s version of television quiz show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” the film has already been installed as favorite for the best picture statuette at the February 22 awards show at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre.

However, Oscars pundits believe British director Danny Boyle’s film could be vulnerable if the Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight” elbows its way into contention across multiple categories.

Unusually for a superhero genre film, “The Dark Knight” is regarded as a contender for a best picture nod, and is a certainty to gain a posthumous nomination in the best supporting actor category for Heath Ledger.

The movie has already won nominations for annual awards handed out by the movie industry’s producers, writers and directors guilds, normally a reliable indicator of a film’s Oscars chances.

Tom O’Neil, a pundit with the Los Angeles Times’ theenvelope.com, said the critically acclaimed Batman sequel, the second-highest grossing film in US box-office history, could easily come into contention.

“‘The Dark Knight’ really is the big dark mystery hanging over the Oscars this year,” O’Neil said. “It was the movie of 2008. It was the most talked about, it was the most important, it was the most seen.

“The problem it faces at the Oscars is that no superhero movie has ever landed in that top category (best picture).

“But those barriers have been broken before if you think of horror movies — and then ‘Silence of Lambs’ got in. There were barriers against fantasy films, and then ‘Lord of the Rings’ won everything.

“So if there’s any superhero movie that can come swooping into the Oscars big time, it’s this movie.”

Oscar-watchers believe “Slumdog Millionaire” will be joined in the best picture race by “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon” and “Milk,” with “The Dark Knight” battling against Clint Eastwood drama “Gran Torino” and “The Reader” for the fifth slot.

O’Neil said the biggest threats to “Slumdog Millionaire” could be “The Dark Knight” or the big-budget period epic, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” starring Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse.

“It’s going to be a David vs Goliath contest, but it’s a question of which film is going to be the Goliath — ‘Dark Knight’ or ‘Benjamin Button’?”

Beyond the best picture race, all eyes are likely to focus on the acting awards, where Briton Kate Winslet, a double-winner at the Golden Globes earlier this month, could pick up twin nominations for her performances in “The Reader” and “Revolutionary Road.”

Among Winslet’s likely rivals in the best actress stakes are Meryl Streep, superb in the religious drama “Doubt,” Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” and Angelina Jolie in “Changeling.”

In the best actor race, Sean Penn is expected to earn a nod for his portrayal of gay politician Harvey Milk in “Milk,” while Mickey Rourke, a popular Golden Globe winner, could earn a nomination for “The Wrestler.”

Other possible nominees include Brad Pitt (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Frank Langella (”Frost/Nixon”) and Clint Eastwood (”Gran Torino.”)

This year’s nomination announcements, which will be made at 5.30am local time (1330 GMT) on Thursday, were held two days later than normal because of President Barack Obama’s inauguration.