• As Michael Bodey reports, "Crime drama 'Animal Kingdom' has swamped the Australian Film Institute nominations, grabbing a nod in every category for which it was eligible. The film about a Melbourne crime family overseen by a charismatic matriarch (played by Jacki Weaver) earned 18 nominations, with war drama 'Beneath Hill 60' next in numbers with a surprising 12 nominations. Jane Campion's British-Australian co-production 'Bright Star' earned 11 nominations, the teen novel adaptation 'Tomorrow When The War Began' earned eight and indigenous musical 'Bran Nue Dae' and the French-Australian co-production 'The Tree' grabbed seven nominations each. All six films will vie for the best film prize." THE AUSTRALIAN

• Mike Fleming has the scoop: "Attorneys representing the Gotham-based real estate clan The Durst Organization are threatening to sue over the December release of 'All Good Things.'" The pic stars Ryan Gosling as a character allegedly modeled on Robert Durst, who was accused of murdering his wife and friend. DEADLINE

• Kyle Buchanan considers whether or not Sandra Bullock will be able to avoid the curse that has befallen other best actress champs as of late. As he notes: "If all goes according to plan, Bullock's next three films will be 'Gravity,' an ambitious space drama directed by Alfonso Cuarón ('Children of Men'), an adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's acclaimed novel 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' by Stephen Daldry ('The Hours'), and an untitled comedy that would find Bullock co-starring opposite A-listers like Meryl Streep and Oprah Winfrey." VULTURE

• Richard Verrier has all the details on the decision to keep production of the prequels to Peter Jackson's Oscar-winning trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" in New Zealand: "The nation's prime minister, John Key, announced Wednesday that his government had reached an agreement with the producers of the two 'Hobbit' movies to keep the $500-million production in his country. 'I am delighted we have achieved this result,' Key said in a statement. 'Making the two 'Hobbit' movies here will not only safeguard work for thousands of New Zealanders, but it will also follow the success of the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy in once again promoting New Zealand on the world stage.' The agreement comes after Key held talks with New Line Cinema President Toby Emmerich and other executives, who wanted assurances that the production would not be disrupted by labor unrest. They also were seeking additional financial sweeteners, which they received." COMPANY TOWN

• Jeff Wells examines the awards prospects for "I Am Love" leading lady Tilda Swinton. HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE

• Guy Lodge sings the praises of Emma Stone for her sparkling performance in the teen comedy "Easy A," and bemoans the lack of love from the academy for funny turns by pretty young things. IN CONTENTION

• The 2008 Tony best musical champ, "In the Heights," is closing Jan. 9. Creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, who won a Tony for his score, will be returning to the show for the final two weeks. PLAYBILL

• As Patrick Healey notes: "If the highly anticipated Colin Firth film 'The King's Speech' performs well this awards season, chances are a stage version will come about relatively quickly on Broadway, in London's West End, or both. Michael Alden, a producer on the Broadway musical 'Grey Gardens' and the Sarah Jones solo show 'Bridge & Tunnel,' said in an interview on Tuesday that he was developing a stage production of 'The King’s Speech' after acquiring the rights to the work, about the real-life relationship between King George VI of Britain (the World War II monarch and current queen’s father) and a speech therapist named Lionel Logue, who helped him overcome a stammer." ARTS BEAT

• Reports Joyce Eng: "Justin Bieber, Ke$ha and Katy Perry will make their American Music Awards debuts next month as performers, producers announced Wednesday. All three are multiple nominees and will duke it out in the artist of the year race alongside Lady Gaga and Eminem. Bieber is up for four awards, while Ke$ha and Perry each have three nominations. Eminem and Lady Antebellum lead with five bids." TV GUIDE

Upper photo: "Animal Kingdom" poster. Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

Middle photo: "The Hobbit" book cover. Credit: Houghton Mifflin

Lower photo: Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech." Credit: The Weinstein Co.

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• For Kyle Buchanan, the trailer for "The Fighter," which debuted during Sunday's airing of "Mad Men," was a "wowser." He thinks this preview of the biopic starring Mark Wahlberg is expert at "reestablishing the movie as a highbrow awards pick in a two-minute spot so confident that a dessicated, transformative Christian Bale gets less screen time than Melissa Leo's amazing hair. (But what hair it is! Oscars now for that, please.)" VULTURE

• Pete Hammond has all the details of the Oscar push for "Alice in Wonderland." As he reports, "this 6th biggest grosser of all time will start an unusual four-day theatrical engagement Sunday aimed squarely at attracting Academy members and Hollywood guilds. A full-page Sunday newspaper ad will launch the 3D run at the Arclight Hollywood and AMC Santa Monica from October 18th to 21st. The run will be accompanied by an exhibit of Colleen Atwood's costumes in the Arclight lobby." DEADLINE

• Jeffrey Wells (Hollywood-Elsewhere) and Sasha Stone (Awards Daily) have fun sparring on their fourth Oscar podcast. OSCAR POKER

• Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt ("Little Miss Sunshine") will deliver the keynote address at the academy's 25th annual Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting presentation dinner Nov. 4 at the Beverly Wilshire. The academy annually awards up to five Nicholl fellowships of $30,000 each. This year, 10 scripts have advanced to the final round. Since the program's inception in 1985, 113 fellowships have been awarded. AMPAS

• Speaking at Stanford University on Saturday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg addressed being the subject of "The Social Network." As Rachel Sklar reveals, "Says every shirt in the movie he still owns; he's been with the same girl since before FB launched; did not do it for the girls: 'They just can't wrap their head around the idea that someone would build something because they like building things!' " MEDIAITE

• Don't look for Zuckerberg in the audience when the cast of "The Social Network" is feted with the ensemble award at the Hollywood Awards Gala on Oct. 25 at the Beverly Hilton. HFF

• For Guy Lodge, "admittedly, 11 out of 65 is a figure that is only impressive if you're counting the listenable tracks on most latter-day hip-hop albums, but as a measure of the number of Best Foreign Language Film contenders I've seen, it's more than I've ever managed by this early point in the race. For that, I have my growing trail of film festivals to thank (even if I also have Venice schedulers to blame for ensuring that I missed Canada's hot prospect 'Incendies' in favour of, of all things, 'Miral'), and this year's London Film Festival has served me particularly well in this regard." IN CONTENTION

• From the Scream Awards, Matt Donnelly filed a dispatch, which opens as follows: "Though merely misty at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre on Saturday, it was raining celebs for Spike TV's Scream Awards -- an annual celebration of creepy, cringe-worthy and fanboy fare. Backed by a massive outdoor set inspired by Christopher Nolan's 'Inception,' tons of bold-face names came to present and claim trophies as well as to unveil new footage from upcoming films. In a tiny gold cocktail dress, Halle Berry opened the show by introducing Nolan, who scooped up several statuettes for his Leonardo DiCaprio-led flick." MINISTRY OF GOSSIP

• Sasha Stone surveys the field of potential supporting actress contenders and finds, "This is going to be a wide open category, I suspect, but by December we should have a better idea where it's going." AWARDS DAILY

• Nathaniel Rogers concurs, commenting that, "the Supporting Actress Race is, as you've presumably surmised (being the smarty that you are) unpredictable at the moment. Almost everyone who people think might be in the running is an uncertainty." THE FILM EXPERIENCE

• Rihanna will be the opening act for the 38th edition of the American Music Awards, airing live on ABC on Nov. 21. That is five days after her new album "Loud" is released. Previously announced performers include Usher, Pink and Bon Jovi. RAP-UP

• Seven-time Emmy champ Ed Asner has inked a deal for a supporting role on "Working Class," the first sitcom from cablecaster CMT. As this report notes, "His return to TV follows recent successes for two fellow cast-mates from the legendary 'Mary Tyler Moore Show': Betty White on TV Land's 'Hot in Cleveland' and Cloris Leachman on Fox's 'Raising Hope.'" AP

• Voting is now underway to determine the nominees for this year's People's Choice Awards. Fans can vote in 40 categories for their favorites in movies, TV and music. The top five nominees in each category will be announced on Nov. 9 and Queen Latifah will host the 37th annual kudocast on Jan. 5. PCA

Photo: Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale in "The Fighter." Credit: Paramount

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• As Nikki Finke reports, "This is truly the end of an era. I've just learned that Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences executive director Bruce Davis announced at this evening's Board Of Governors meeting that he intends to retire on June 30th, 2011, after 30 years working for the world's preeminent film group." Nikki also has a copy of Bruce's e-mail to the academy staff, which reads, in part, "When I leave I will have spent thirty years at the Academy, and more than twenty as its executive director. That seems like enough. Organizations and individuals both benefit from periodic shifts in perspective." DEADLINE

• Roger Deakins will be feted with the lifetime achievement award from the American Society of Cinematographers. The eight-time Oscar nominee will receive the honor at the 25th edition of the ASC kudos on Feb. 13. In a statement, ASC president Michael Goi said: "The Lifetime Achievement Award is a reflection of the impact that a cinematographer has made on the art of filmmaking rather than the capping of a career. It is our way of acknowledging a true artist in his prime. Roger Deakins raises the artistic profile of our profession with every movie and he will continue to do so for many years." ASC

• Dave Karger unveils his first top 10 list of best picture contenders. Leading the list is "The King's Speech," with "True Grit" in second and "The Social Network" in third place. As always, Dave provides expert analysis of each film's ranking. For example, he says this about "The King's Speech": "As soon as I saw this British drama in early September I knew it had the potential to go all the way in at least one major category. Right now its star, Colin Firth, is the man to beat for Best Actor, and it’s an absolute lock for a Best Picture nomination as well." ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

• Using "Fair Game" as an example, Sasha Stone writes insightfully about the role of bloggers in the Oscar race. Says Sasha, "There is a filter between seeing films in screenings and how they eventually 'do.' The critics are really the ones who mostly shape perception. The bloggers can praise a film until they’re blue in the fingertips, but ultimately — it’s about the critics, the industry, the public and the Academy. Sorry, bloggers, but it just is. That is why seeing a film in a screening can sometimes be a misleading experience. If the critics don’t agree with the early blogger praise, a film will have a hard time passing the first test. That is why it’s always dangerous to get our strong opinion out there — others are likely to throw it back in our face should the movie fail. This happened to me with 'The Kite Runner.' I am always surprised when I like a movie that ends up doing really well in the race. It is a win-win for me." AWARDS DAILY

• With his usual savvy style, Steve Pond weighs the odds of four possible Oscar contenders making the cut: "True Grit" for best picture, "The Social Network" for adapted screenplay, Mel Gibson ("The Beaver") for lead actor and "The Town" for best picture. THE ODDS

• Kris Tapley is aces at keeping track of the contenders for the animated feature award, and he reports that "it's looking more and more like the magic number of 16 won’t be reached in this year’s animated feature film race. By my count, we have 12 titles." IN CONTENTION

• Eminem and Lady Antebellum lead the list of nominees for this year's 38th annual edition of the American Music Awards with five bids each. Eminem and four-time nominee Justin Bieber vie for artist of the year against Katy Perry, Ke$ha and Lady Gaga. The kudos will be handed out Nov. 21 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles and will air on ABC. THE ENVELOPE

• The field of documentary short-subject Oscar contenders has been winnowed from 30 to eight, with three to five of them making it to the nomination stage. Those still in the running are "Born Sweet," "Killing in the Name," "Living for 32," "One Thousand Pictures: RFK’s Last Journey," "Poster Girl," "Strangers No More," "Sun Come Up" and "The Warriors of Qiugang." AMPAS

•The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced Oscar winner Sidney Poitier will be honored with the 38th annual Chaplin award at a May 2 gala. The Film Society's annual gala began in 1972 and honored Charles Chaplin, who returned to the U.S. from exile to accept the commendation. Since then, the award has been renamed for Chaplin and has honored many of the film industry's most notable talents, including Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Laurence Olivier, Federico Fellini, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, James Stewart, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and, most recently, Michael Douglas. FILM SOCIETY

• Nathaniel Rogers notes that if Jesse Eisenberg is Oscar nominated for "The Social Network," he'll knock Matt Damon ("Good Will Hunting") out of the top 10 youngest lead actor contenders. THE FILM EXPERIENCE

• Michael J. Fox will reunite with his "Back to the Future" castmates at the Scream 2010 Awards. To celebrate the silver anniversary of this movie classic, they will also be featured on the cover of an issue of Entertainment Weekly.

Photo: "The King's Speech." Photo credit: Weinstein Co.

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