The Revenant, a frontier tale of vengeance, picked up 12 Oscar nominations, Thursday morning, for Best Picture, Best Director, and for the stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.

Another survivalist tale, Mad Max: Fury Road, followed close behind with ten nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Director for George Miller, who revived the post-apocalyptic franchise after a three-decade break between installments.

Eight films were nominated for Best Picture, including Spotlight, The Martian, Bridge of Spies, The Big Short, Room, and Brooklyn.

As always, there were snubs -- “The Martian” director Ridley Scott was absent in his category, though he was considered to be a strong contender to WIN the prize. African-American talent were also absent from the top categories. Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation and the Creed team of Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan did not get nods. After last year's fiasco in which the Academy was slammed for not recognizing Selma director Ava DuVernay and star David Oyelowo, it was thought the group would step up to round out the categories with deserving, diverse actors and directors.

Even though it's made more cash than any film EVER, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was shut out from the Best Picture race. It received five nominations in technical categories. Also absent in the Best Picture category were Carol and Straight Outta Compton, the story of rap group N.W.A.

Eddie Redmayne was once again nominated for his performance as a transgender artist in The Danish Girl, after winning an Oscar last year for The Theory of Everything. He's face off against Matt Damon in The Martian, Bryan Cranston in Trumbo, Michael Fassbender as the eponymous character in Steve Jobs and DiCaprio’s mountain man in The Revenant.

Leading actress noms include Cate Blanchett Carol, Brie Larson as a kidnapped mother in Room, Jennifer Lawrence Joy, Saoirse Ronan as an Irish immigrant in Brooklyn, and Charlottle Rampling 45 Years.

The Oscars will air live on ABC on February 28, hosted by Chris Rock. See the full list of nominees HERE!