2013 Oscars: Likely Winners

Jan. 10, 2013— -- intro: Now that the Oscar nominations are out, the bets are on for who will emerge as winners.

After Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone announced the nominees this morning, the deck appears to be stacked for "Lincoln," which led with 12 nominations, followed by 11 for "Life of Pi," and 8 each for "Les Miserables" and "Silver Linings Playbook." Two critical favorites, "Argo" and "Zero Dark Thirty" got fewer nominations than expected. Their directors, Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow, were shut out of the best director category.

FULL LIST: 2013 Oscar Nominees

One film that did surprisingly well with four nominations was the indie favorite "Beasts of the Southern Wild." The film's 9-year-old star, Quvenzhane Wallis, received a best actress nod, making her the youngest nominee ever. She will be competing against the oldest best actress nominee in Oscar history, "Amour" star Emmanuelle Riva, who is 85.

It has been a very good year for movies, not to mention a diverse one.

"You have these serious movies like 'Zero Dark Thirty' and 'Lincoln.' Then there's 'Argo' in the middle and 'Les Miserables' and 'Silver Linings Playbook' on the other end," Yahoo! Movies contributing editor Thelma Adams told ABCNews.com. "It's almost like apples and oranges. How do you compare?"

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That's the job of the Academy. But it won't stop us from guessing who will take home the Oscar before the names are read on Feb. 24 on ABC.

Click through for our list of likely winners

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quicklist:title: Best Picture: 'Lincoln'text: Nominees: "Lincoln," "Zero Dark Thirty," "Argo," "Les Miserables," "Silver Linings Playbook," Amour," "Django Unchained," "Beasts of the Southern Wild," and "Life of Pi"

With "Argo" and "Zero Dark Thirty" receiving fewer nominations than expected, "Lincoln" is the favorite to win for best picture.media: 17946969

quicklist:title: Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewistext: Nominees: Daniel Day-Lewis ("Lincoln"), Bradley Cooper ("Silver Linings Playbook"), Hugh Jackman ("Les Miserables"), Denzel Washington ("Flight") and Joaquin Phoenix ("The Master").

"It's such a lock, it's pathetic," Adams said of likely winner Day-Lewis. media: 18171309

quicklist: title: Best Actress: Jessica Chastaintext: Nominees: Jessica Chastain ("Zero Dark Thirty"), Jennifer Lawrence ("Silver Linings Playbook"), Quvenzhane Wallis ("Beasts of the Southern Wild"), Naomi Watts ("The Impossible") and Emmanuelle Riva ("Amour")

Though this category is interesting because of its historic 76-year age spread -- Wallis is the youngest nominee at 9 and Riva is the oldest at 85 -- it will come down to two women: Chastain and Lawrence. media: 18171208

quicklist:title: Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jonestext: Nominees: Tommy Lee Jones ("Lincoln"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("The Master"), Alan Arkin ("Argo"), Christoph Waltz ("Django Unchained") and Robert Dinero ("Silver Linings Playbook").

As MacFarlane and Stone pointed out, all of these nominees have previously won Academy Awards, but Adams thinks Jones has the edge.media: 18171175

quicklist:title: Supporting Actress: Anne Hathawaytext: Nominees: Anne Hathaway ("Les Miserables"), Sally Field ("Lincoln"), Amy Adams ("The Master"), Helen Hunt ("The Sessions") and Jacki Weaver ("Silver Linings Playbook).

Weaver is the surprise nominee in this category; the others had been expected to earn a nod. Although she's up against two-time Oscar winner Sally Field, Anne Hathaway is the clear favorite to win.media: 17946878

quicklist: title: Best Director: Steven Spielbergtext: Nominees: Steven Spielberg ("Lincoln"), Ang Lee ("Life of Pi"), Michael Haneke ("Amour"), Benh Zeitlin ("Beasts of the Southern Wild") and David O. Russell ("Silver Linings Playbook")

This is probably the most surprising category with its snubs of "Argo" director Ben Affleck, "Zero Dark Thirty" director Kathryn Bigelow and "Les Miserables" director Tom Hooper and its surprise nomination for "Beasts" director Zeitlin. That leaves Spielberg with the edge to win, though don't count out Russell.media: 18179628

quicklist:title: Best Animated Feature: 'Brave'text: Nominees: "Brave," "Wreck-It-Ralph," "Frankenweenie," "ParaNorman" and "The Pirates."

Adams predicts the race will come down to "Brave" and "Frankenweenie."media: 16617786

quicklist:title: Best Screenplay (Original and Adapted)text: Nominees for original: "Zero Dark Thirty," "Flight" "Amour," "Django Unchained" and "Moonrise Kingdom"

Nominees for adapted:"Lincoln," "Argo," "Silver Linings Playbook," "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and "Life of Pi"

This original screenplay category could score a win for "Zero Dark Thirty." As for adapted, Tony Kushner has the lock for "Lincoln," Adams said. "It's Kushner! It's noble!"media: 18123946

quicklist: title: Best Foreign Filmtext: Adams' picks: "Amour" (Austria), "No" (Chile), "A Royal Affair" (Denmark), "War Witch" (Canada) and "Kon-Tiki (Norway)"

Adams called it a really strong year for foreign films: "Some of the best I've seen in years." But "Amour" -- whose Austrian director, Michael Haneke, also received a nod -- is the likely winner.media: 18171074