'Guardians,' 'Fault' and 'Neighbors' lead MTV Movie Award nominees

[March 05, 2015] LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Marvel's space caper, "Guardians of the Galaxy", will take on weepy teen romance, "The Fault in Our Stars", and raunchy bromance comedy, "Neighbors", at the MTV Movie Awards this year, as each garnered seven nominations in the irreverent annual youth-oriented awards ceremony.

"Guardians," one of 2014's top-grossing films, scored multiple nominations for leading man Chris Pratt in the categories of best male performance, best shirtless performance, best musical performance and best comedic performance.

"Fault," about two cancer-stricken teens falling in love, landed nominations for its leading duo Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort in the best female and male performance, best duo and best kiss categories.

"Neighbors," a raucous frat comedy, also landed nods for Dave Franco and Zac Efron in best duo, Efron and Seth Rogen in the categories of best fight and best musical moment.

This year's Oscar best picture contenders face off once again for MTV's top award of Movie of the Year, where "Boyhood," "Whiplash," "American Sniper" and "Selma" are up against "Guardians," "Fault," "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -Part 1" and "Gone Girl."
 

The best picture Oscar-winner, dark showbiz satire "Birdman," was notably missing from the race, and only scored two nominations; Emma Stone, for best female performance, and Edward Norton, versus Michael Keaton, for best fight.

The MTV Movie Awards ushers in the summer blockbuster movie season, and is known for its more unconventional award categories, such as Best Kiss, which includes an on-screen lip-lock between James Franco and Seth Rogen in Sony's North Korea spoof comedy, "The Interview."

Other irreverent categories include Best WTF Moment and Best Scared-As-S**T Performance.

Fans vote for MTV Movie Award winners, who receive their popcorn-shaped trophies at a ceremony in downtown Los Angeles. This year, comedian Amy Schumer will host the event, which will be televised live on MTV, a unit of Viacom Inc., on Apr. 12.

Unlike the Oscars, which are voted by the film industry's elite, the MTV Movie Awards draws on the network's young fan base to pick favorites that often include big blockbusters overlooked for industry awards.

"Guardians" only scored two Oscar nominations for visual effects and makeup, and went home empty-handed.

Last year, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" was named movie of the year at the MTV Movie Awards, and scooped the top acting honors over Oscar-winning "12 Years A Slave," highlighting the ceremony's appeal to young fans.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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