The nominations for the 72nd annual Golden Globes were announced early Thursday morning with Birdman easily leading the field with seven nominations. Boyhood and The Imitation Game followed with five mentions each, respectively. Today’s announcement provided more clarity for the 2014 awards race, as the Golden Globes are one of the oldest and most high-profile bellwethers leading up to the Academy Awards. The Golden Globes are voted on by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group consisting of about ninety film journalists. 

The announcement comes one day after nominations were announced for the 21st Screen Actors Guild nominations, which provided a tremendous overlap – the only discrepancy came in the Best Supporting Actress race with SAG trumping Naomi Watts’ turn in St. Vincent while the Hollywood Foreign Press instead choose Jessica Chastain’s work in A Most Violent Year. This may portend an awards season perhaps short on suspense, another is that the Golden Globes have more acting categories to play around with– the HFPA divide film nominations between dramas and musicals/comedies, allowing for more room overall.

Boyhood and The Imitation Game are up for Best Picture Drama, along with Foxcatcher, The Theory of Everything, and Selma.  Notably, Selma – a film that came up short with the SAG Awards (likely because screeners weren’t sent out in time for the nominating committee due to the film not being completely finished yet) – rebounded nicely with four mentions, including one for leading actor David Oyelowo (who plays Martin Luther King Jr. in the film) and for director Ava DuVernay. With her mention for Best Director, DuVernay is now the fourth woman (and first African-American woman) to be nominated in that category at the Globes. The other significant awards bait feature directed by a female director this year – Angelina Jolie for Unbroken – was snubbed, as was the film itself in every category. Birdman heads the Best Picture Musical or Comedy line-up, which also includes The Grand Budapest Hotel, St. Vincent, Into the Woods and Pride, a low-profile 80s-set British comedy about the unlikely alliance that formed between gay activists and mineworkers during Margaret Thatcher’s rule.

The Golden Globes and the Hollywood Foreign Press have a somewhat dubious reputation, inciting controversies in the past over the clandestine nature of their members and their voting practices, but they do still hold a prized place in the awards season glut. The Golden Globes will take place on January 11, 2015 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will return as emcees for the event for the third time. The full list of film nominations is below:

BEST MOTION PICTURE (Drama)

• Boyhood
• Foxcatcher
• The Imitation Game
• Selma
• The Theory of Everything

BEST MOTION PICTURE (Musical or Comedy)

• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Into the Woods
• Pride
• St. Vincent

BEST DIRECTOR

• Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Ava DuVernay, Selma
• David Fincher, Gone Girl
• Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Richard Linklater, Boyhood

BEST ACTOR (Drama)

• Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
• Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
• Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
• David Oyelowo, Selma
• Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

BEST ACTRESS (Drama)

• Jennifer Aniston, Cake
• Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
• Julianne Moore, Still Alice
• Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspoon, Wild

BEST ACTOR (Musical or Comedy)

• Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Michael Keaton, Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
• Bill Murray, St. Vincent
• Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
• Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes

BEST ACTRESS (Musical or Comedy)

• Amy Adams, Big Eyes
• Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
• Helen Mirren, The Hundred-Foot Journey
• Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars
• Quvenzhané Wallis, Annie

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Robert Duvall, The Judge
• Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
• Edward Norton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
• J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
• Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
• Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
• Emma Stone, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

BEST SCREENPLAY

• Birdman– Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo
• Boyhood– Richard Linklater
• Gone Girl– Gillian Flynn
• The Grand Budapest Hotel– Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness
• The Imitation Game– Graham Moore

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• Big Hero 6
• The Book of Life
• The Boxtrolls
• How to Train Your Dragon 2
• The LEGO Movie

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• Force Majeure (Sweden)
• Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (Israel)
• Ida (Poland)
• Leviathan (Russia)
• Tangerines (Estonia)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)– Antonio Sanchez
• Gone Girl– Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
• The Imitation Game– Alexandre Desplat
• Interstellar– Hans Zimmer
• The Theory of Everything– Johann Johannson

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• “Big Eyes,” Big Eyes – music and lyrics by Lana Del Rey
• “Glory,” Selma – music and lyrics by John Legend, Common
• “Mercy Is,” Noah – music and lyrics by Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye
• “Opportunity,” Annie – music and lyrics by Greg Kurstin, Sia Furler, Will Gluck
• “Yellow Flicker Beat,” The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – music and lyrics by Lorde

CECIL B. DeMILLE AWARD: George Clooney