Oscars: Hollywood awaits nominations
From left: Sandra Bullock in Gravity, Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave and Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle The Oscar nominations will be announced later, with 12 Years a Slave, Gravity and American Hustle all expected to be in the running for best picture.
But the rest of the shortlist is up for grabs, amidst one of the most competitive fields in years.
Experts predict a full slate of 10 nominees, with Dallas Buyers Club and Captain Phillips among frontrunners.
Actor Chris Hemsworth and Oscars chief Cheryl Boone Isaacs will list nominees at 05:38 local time (13:38 GMT).
12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen's hard-hitting historical drama, picked up the top honour at the Sunday's Golden Globes, winning best film drama.
It is also the bookmakers' favourite to win the Oscar for best picture, but David O Russell's crime caper American Hustle is rapidly closing in, after picking up three Globes, including best film in the comedy or musical category.
Its female stars Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence also picked up best actress and supporting actress prizes.
Lawrence won the best actress Oscar last February for Russell's Silver Linings Playbook and is generating a strong buzz this year in the supporting actress category for her scene-stealing role as Rosalyn, the unpredictable wife of conman Irving Rosenfeld, played by Christian Bale.
Gravity, the 3D film about astronauts stranded in space, picked up the prestigious best director Globe for Alfonso Cuaron, making him an Oscar frontrunner alongside McQueen and Russell.
Gravity star Sandra Bullock is hotly tipped for a best actress nomination, while 12 Years a Slave's Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong'o are all expected to get acting nods.
Could Nebraska's Bruce Dern, seen on left with Will Forte, be up for best actor? The best picture category can consist of anything between five and 10 films. For the past two years there have been nine films on the shortlist.
Among the hopefuls are Martin Scorsese's stockbroker shocker The Wolf of Wall Street, sea piracy thriller Captain Phillips and Nebraska, Alexander Payne's black and white film about a cantankerous old man on the trail of a dubious lottery win.
Also expected to pick up a nomination is Dallas Buyers Club, the true story of Texas electrician Ron Woodroof, played by Matthew McConaughey, who was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1985 and given 30 days to live.
Although completely shut out of last week's Bafta nominations, Dallas Buyers Club is likely to fare better with the Academy's 6,000 voters.
McConaughey was named best actor in a drama at the Globes while his co-star Jared Leto won the best supporting actor prize for his depiction of a transgender woman.
Bookies say McConaughey is closing in on Ejiofor in the race for the best actor Oscar.
Matthew McConaughey lost a huge amount of weight to play a man diagnosed with HIV/Aids in Dallas Buyers Club "Just a fortnight ago we thought that 12 Years A Slave and Chiwetel were certainties for Oscar glory but the latest gamble suggests that may just not be the case," said William Hill's Rupert Adams.
Other names tipped to make the final cut are Robert Redford (All is Lost), Leonardo Di Caprio (The Wolf of Wall Street), Bruce Dern (Nebraska) and Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips).
Hanks, already a double Oscar winner, might get two acting nominations this year, the second for playing Walt Disney in Saving Mr Banks, a film about Disney's attempts to turn Mary Poppins into a movie in the 1960s.
Cate Blanchett appears hard to beat for the best actress Oscar and is 1/8 favourite to pick up the award for her role as a New York socialite fallen on hard times in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.
British hopes in the best actress category include Emma Thompson, who plays Mary Poppins creator PL Travers in Saving Mr Banks and Judi Dench, who plays an Irish mother searching for her adopted son in Philomena.
Other Brits to watch out for in the main acting categories include Christian Bale for American Hustle, Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine, Idris Elba for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, and 12 Years a Slave's Ejiofor.
British acting hopes include Judi Dench in Philomena and Emma Thompson in Saving Mr Banks The best director shortlist could include Paul Greengrass and Steve McQueen.
"You could have a very strong British showing," film expert Mark Kermode told the BBC last week, "but it's important not to judge the success or failure of the British film industry on how many Brits get nominated at the Oscars.
"That said, every year there is British talent scattered all the way through the Oscar nominations. The British film industry is a very diverse thing. Almost no British film is made without co-production of some sort.
"British technicians, actors, writers, directors, and musicians are right at the core of film-making and you always see that at the Oscars."
The winners of the golden statuettes will be announced at the 86th Academy Awards on Sunday, 2 March at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles. This year's event is hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.
It was announced this week that the ceremony would pay tribute to movie heroes from past and present.
Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, running the Oscars for a second year, said they wanted to "unify the show with an entertaining and emotional theme".
In 2013, Daniel Day-Lewis made Oscars history by becoming the first man to win the best actor prize three times. The British-born star was rewarded for his role in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln.
Ben Affleck's Iran-set rescue thriller Argo beat Lincoln to the top prize for best picture.
A special Oscar nominations programme is on the BBC News Channel, with Jane Hill and film critic Jason Solomons, starting at 1330 GMT.
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