Sounding a royal fanfare, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences saluted Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," the third installment in the epic trilogy from New Line Cinema, with a triumphant 11 nominations Tuesday morning.

But if that film's dominance was virtually preordained when the Academy announced its nominations for the 76th Annual Academy Awards, it was one of the few sure things that actually lived up to its advance billing.

In a season full of epic movies, a number of the biggest pictures failed to sweep through every branch of the Academy. "King," with noms for best picture and best director, and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," its nearest competitor with 10 nominations, including its own picture and director citations, led the field, although neither was able to nail down any acting nominations.

It has been a turbulent Oscar season -- the Academy's accelerated voting schedule and the impassioned screener controversy introduced plenty of uncertainty. And then sheer human unpredictability entered the equation.

"I think it was as competitive a year as I can ever recall," Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman Tom Rothman said. "I tried to say in the middle of the summer, when everyone was decrying the death of Hollywood, that a hell of a lot of good films were coming. 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Master and Commander' are way out there on top, but then there is a number of really interesting films recognized by a wide array of nominations."

Rothman theorized that both "King" and "Master" were seen as ensemble pictures -- thus no nominations for the individual actors. In the case of "Master," he said, "The power of the film itself tends to dominate. But you don't get 10 Academy Award nominations without an appreciation of the actors who carried the movie."

Still, the actors branch proved particularly resistant to the lure of this season's epics, choosing instead to champion smaller films and to single out performers who arrived without any of the trappings of celebrity.

For lead actress, the actors threw their spotlight on 13-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes, who plays a young Maori girl who challenges tribal prejudices in "Whale Rider," making her the youngest actress ever nominated in that category. The supporting actress category includes Shohreh Aghdashloo, the Iranian-born actress who appears in "House of Sand and Fog." And Ken Watanabe, making his English-language debut, earned best supporting actor recognition for "The Last Samurai."

The six actors who collected trophies at the Golden Globes on Sunday night all made the Academy's cut: Sean Penn ("Mystic River") and Bill Murray ("Lost in Translation") as lead actors, Tim Robbins ("Mystic") as supporting actor as well as Charlize Theron ("Monster") and Diane Keaton ("Something's Gotta Give") as lead actresses and Renee Zellweger ("Cold Mountain") as supporting actress.

But a number of celebrated stars were left out of the mix. Nicole Kidman, last year's best actress winner for "The Hours," was not nominated for "Cold Mountain." Russell Crowe wasn't cited for "Master." "The Last Samurai's" Tom Cruise, "The Missing's" Cate Blanchett and "Something's Gotta Give's" Jack Nicholson were also not invited to the party.

"Cold Mountain," touted as an early favorite, earned noms for best actor Jude Law along with Zellweger, but despite seven nominations, it fell on the field of battle -- denied a best picture nomination and any mention of writer-director Anthony Minghella.

Instead, "Seabiscuit," the long-distance runner that was released way back in July, nosed into the best picture heat, which also includes "King," "Master," "Mystic River," which picked up six noms, and "Lost in Translation," which scored four.

"The nominations for 'Cold Mountain' were bittersweet -- that's the disappointment," said Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, who attributed its showing to the fact that it opened late in the year, Dec. 25, significantly behind most of the other best picture nominees. "We misread the impact of the earlier voting dates this year. When we were dealing with smaller groups, like the PGA, BAFTA and the Golden Globes, we were OK. But everybody in the Academy votes for best picture, and I don't think everybody had time to see the movie."

On the other hand, Miramax still led its competitors in amassing nominations. Among the U.S. distributors, Miramax could claim 15 noms from an eclectic mix of five different films, including "Cold Mountain" (7), "City of God" (4), "Barbarian Invasions" (2), "Dirty Pretty Things" (1) and "Twin Sisters" (1).

"That was exciting," Weinstein added. "There was one good note. Some people complain that Miramax doesn't look after its small movies, but that myth got shattered."

"City of God," the gritty Brazilian film by Fernando Meirelles, made a particularly strong showing, earning a best director nomination for Meirelles, an adapted screenplay slot for Braulio Mantovani and noms for its cinematography and film editing. Meirelles' inclusion in the directing circle meant that writer-director Gary Ross, who directed best pic nominee "Seabiscuit," had to settle for an adapted screenplay nom.

For New Line -- which could well take home its first-ever best picture Oscar if "King" is crowned best picture when the envelopes are opened Feb. 29 -- the 11 nominations came as a final vindication on what had initially been perceived as a risky gamble. The first film in the series, "The Fellowship of the Ring," earned 13 noms and took home four awards. But last year, a number of branches decided they had already acknowledged the series and balked at tossing more laurels at the second film, "The Two Towers," which had to settle for six noms.

"I do think this is an acknowledgment, not just of 'Return of the King,' but of the entire trilogy, which deserves it," New Line co-chairman Michael Lynne said. "On every level, it has deserved recognition because it is something of such ambition and scale."

"We're just trying to stay in the moment," New Line co-chairman Bob Shaye said. "It's almost like we're living two lives. Because in the middle of everything that's going on right now, we're already at work with our 2004 slate."

In almost every corner, this year's round of nominations turned up unexpected developments.

Challenging the standard one-comic-performance-per-category theory, Johnny Depp managed to swashbuckle his way into the contest thanks to his idiosyncratic performance in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." He will face off against fellow comic spirit Murray, starring as an actor adrift in Tokyo in "Lost in Translation" as well as Law, playing a Civil War soldier struggling to return home in "Cold Mountain"; Ben Kingsley, portraying an immigrant Iranian fighting to defend his home in "House of Sand and Fog"; and Penn, who portrays a man facing the disappearance of his daughter in "Mystic River."

In the best actress category, in addition to young Castle-Hughes, the Academy chose to honor Keaton, receiving her fourth nomination for appearing as an older woman who unexpectedly finds love in "Something's Gotta Give"; Theron, who transforms herself into serial killer Aileen Wuornos in "Monster"; Samantha Morton, who heads a family of Irish immigrants in "In America"; and Naomi Watts, who stars as a woman confronting unimaginable loss in "21 Grams."

First-time nominees dominated the best supporting actor category: They are Alec Baldwin for "The Cooler," Djimon Hounsou for "In America" and Ken Watanabe for "The Last Samurai." Although he was nominated in 1996 for directing "Dead Man Walking," Robbins received his first acting nomination this year for "Mystic River." And Benecio Del Toro, who won in 2001 for his performance in "Traffic," received his second acting nomination for "21 Grams," in which he plays a reformed con trying to go straight.

In addition to Aghdashloo, who portrays an Iranian wife struggling to adjust to life in America in "House of Sand and Fog," the list of best supporting actresses are Patricia Clarkson for her portrayal of a mother coping with cancer in "Pieces of April"; Marcia Gay Harden, who plays the wife of a man haunted by his past in "Mystic River"; Holly Hunter, who appears as a contemporary mom coping with a rebellious teen in "thirteen"; and Zellweger, who headlines as a mountain woman in the Civil War South in "Cold Mountain."

In the directing category, "Lost in Translation's" Sofia Coppola, the first American woman ever to be so honored, will face off against "City of God's" Meirelles and "Return of the King's" Jackson as well as Peter Weir for "Master and Commander" and Clint Eastwood for "Mystic River."

Virtually all of the nominees for best original screenplay come from specialty film companies: Miramax Films' "The Barbarian Invasions," written by Denys Arcand, and "Dirty Pretty Things," written by Steven Knight; Fox Searchlight's "In America," written by Jim Sheridan and his daughters Naomi Sheridan and Kirsten Sheridan; and Focus Features' "Lost in Translation," written by Coppola. Even the fifth nominee, "Finding Nemo," with its screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds from a story by Stanton, comes from outside of the studio system since it was produced by Pixar Animation Studios.

And that phenomenon suggests that screeners, even if they finally made their appearance late in this year's Oscar game, still played a critical role.

"In the end, screeners are a reality distributors must deal with," Focus Features co-head David Linde said as he celebrated noms for "Translation" and "21 Grams." "We all live in this environment, where, at the end of the year, it is necessary to focus on awards, and it's simply not possible to see every movie (in theaters). But I think what this year's nominations demonstrate is that Academy members are artists themselves. They take their job seriously, and they are very selective in their decisions."

Added Tom Ortenberg of Lions Gate Films, which picked up noms for "Girl With a Pearl Earring" and "The Cooler": "Overall, I think this year's nominations speak well for the Academy. They suggest they took great care and responsibility in making their judgments."