By DAVID GERMAIN
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - The Civil War saga "Lincoln" leads the Academy Awards with 12 nominations, including best picture, director for Steven Spielberg and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.

Also among the 9 nominees for best picture Thursday: the old-age love story "Amour"; the Iran hostage thriller "Argo"; the independent hit "Beasts of the Southern Wild"; the slave-revenge narrative "Django Unchained"; the musical "Les Miserables"; the shipwreck story "Life of Pi"; the lost-souls romance "Silver Linings Playbook"; and the Osama bin Laden manhunt chronicle "Zero Dark Thirty."

The Oscars feature a best-picture field that ranges from five to 10 films depending on a complex formula of ballots from the 5,856 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Winners will be announced Feb. 24.

Copyright © 2013 Associated Press

For eight years, 89 WLS's very own Richard Roeper was the co-host of "Ebert & Roeper." He currently reviews films for Starz, YouTube and hulu.com. Read his reaction to the Oscar nominations here http://www.richardroeper.com/.

See the full list of the 85th Academy Awards Nominees here http://oscar.go.com/nominees.