'Birdman' leads Critics' Choice Movie Awards nominations

[December 16, 2014]  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Birdman," the dark existential comedy about the would-be comeback of a has-been actor, scored 13 Critics' Choice Movie Awards nominations on Monday, continuing its early run as a Hollywood awards season favorite.

The film starring Michael Keaton has already led nominations for January's Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards. It earned nods for best picture, best actor (Keaton) and Alejandro G. Inarritu was cited for best director, among other nominations.

Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel," a comedy about a bygone Europe, picked up 11 nominations, while Richard Linklater's coming-of-age tale "Boyhood" earned eight nods.

The 20th iteration of the awards, which are voted on by nearly 300 members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, will be given in a televised ceremony in Los Angeles on Jan. 15.

The 10 nominees for best picture include "Birdman," "Boyhood," "The Grand Budapest Hotel," thriller "Gone Girl," World War Two code-cracking drama "The Imitation Game," crime thriller "Nightcrawler," civil rights historical drama "Selma," Stephen Hawking biopic "The Theory of Everything," prisoner of war drama "Unbroken" and jazz drama "Whiplash."

Other films earning multiple nominations include Christopher Nolan's space epic "Interstellar" with seven, while "Gone Girl" and "The Imitation Game" each scored six nominations.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; editing by Patricia Reaney and Dan Grebler)

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