The cast of "The Hangover" shouldn't bother guzzling too much Champagne to celebrate leading with the most MTV Movie Award nominations (six). "Twilight: New Moon" may have merely earned five, but that's exactly how many MTV trophies the original "Twilight" claimed last year. Clearly, voters love blood guzzlers.

Last year at the MTV Movie Awards, "Twilight" won best film, best fight (Cam Gigandet, Robert Pattinson), kiss (Kristen Stewart, Pattinson), female performance (Stewart) and breakthrough male performance (Pattinson). It suffered only two defeats. Taylor Lautner lost best breakthrough male (to costar Pattinson — only one could win the category) and best song ("Decode" lost to "The Climb" from "Hannah Montana: The Movie").

Just because "Twilight" won best film last year doesn't mean "New Moon" is ill-starred. All three installments of "Lord of the Rings" won the same crown from 2002 to 2004.

But the romp by "Rings" does suggest that a movie other than "The Hangover" might have a shot at besting "Twilight: New Moon." That's "Avatar, which, just like "Rings," was a fantasy blockbuster that broke box-office records. Or, rather, "Avatar" is sci-fi, that is, a genre voters preferred when picking past best films "Transformers" and "The Matrix."

Because winners are decided by Web-based votes, that sets up a fierce cyber war between "Twilight" and "Avatar" fanatics. Everybody, duck!

Check out all nominations here and cast your ballot. See our forum posters' reactions to the nominations here.

Photos: "Twilight: New Moon" (Summit), "Avatar" (20th Century Fox)

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Our forum posters don't believe recent Oscar champ "The Hurt Locker" will even be nominated for best picture at the MTV Movie Awards. As they post their predictions in our message boards, our posters agree that front-runners for nominations are "Avatar," "The Hangover" and "Twilight: New Moon" plus maybe "Star Trek," "Inglourious Basterds," "Up" and/or "The Blind Side."

Voting commenced Monday to determine nominees, which will be unveiled around May 11. Cast your own vote here. Awards to be presented on June 6 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.

Oscar's recent winner of best supporting actor, Christoph Waltz ("Inglourious Basterds"), is a good bet to be nominated for the MTV Movie Award as best villain. And he may win – just like Heath Ledger pulled off the dual wins for his sinister turn in "The Dark Knight." But that's the only overlap between Oscars and MTV Awards you're likely to see this year. The two awards agreed on best picture only three times in 18 years: "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," "Gladiator" and "Titanic." Otherwise, the Academy Award winners – to be brutally frank about it – rarely even get nominated by the MTV hipsters. Last year "Slumdog Millionaire" made the list, but it lost to "Twilight."

• Roger Friedman reports, "the combined ages of the Hollywood elite who celebrated Quentin Tarantino’s 'Inglourious Basterds' for lunch on Wednesday was about a thousand. Famed B-movie director Roger Corman, 95-year-old legend Norman Lloyd (Dr. Auschlander from 'St. Elsewhere') and Oscar winner Martin Landau hosted the lunch at the equally old and similarly robust Musso and Frank in Hollywood. The event was sponsored by Insignia Productions’ Ranee Bartolacci and organized by Tarantino fan Norah Lawlor of Lawlor Media in New York. The other guests were people who know their Oscar movies: Cloris Leachman, Ron Howard, Jacqueline Bissett, plus Karen Black, John Milius, Tom Skerritt, Irwin Winkler, JoBeth Williams, Michael Nouri, Ron Perlman, Wayne Kramer, Bruce Davison, Frank Capra Jr, Ron Yerxa, Jon Voight, and the ever popular Norby Walters." SHOWBIZ 411

• And warns Pete Hammond, "Don't tell Harvey Weinstein it's a two-horse race and his movie isn't one of those ponies. 'We're going to win best picture. This is the movie people love and it's Quentin's time. We are going for it and we are gonna get it,' Weinstein told me Tuesday night at carmaker Audi's celebration of the eight Oscar nominations for 'Inglourious Basterds.' 'Look, best director may be a question -- and you can quote me on that -- but we won the SAG award for best ensemble, actors are the biggest branch in the academy and they love the movie.' Perhaps he's using 'Crash' as an inspiration, which in 2004 was able to stop the tide of precursor awards for "Brokeback Mountain" by upsetting at SAG." NOTES ON A SEASON

• Sandra Bullock sat down for an in-depth conversation with Charlie Rose for his public TV talk show. In this compelling 30-minute interview, Bullock discusses the surprising success of "The Blind Side," her thoughts on her first Oscar nomination, and her admiration for category rival Meryl Streep. PBS

• Dave Karger intros the second of six video chats thus: "Missy Schwartz and I take a closer look at the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress races. Is Sandra Bullock the most brilliant Oscar campaigner ever? Can anyone really challenge Mo'Nique for the win?" ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

• Reporting on the revamped Oscars, Andrew Hampp writes, "Janet Weiss, the Academy's director of marketing, wanted to embrace the unique format of this year's telecast in all of the awards show's marketing, thus the tagline, 'You've never seen Oscar like this.' The controversial expansion of the Best Picture slot was the initial impetus behind the decision." To that end, the academy streamed the nomination announcement live online for the first time and has both a Facebook page and an upcoming iPhone app. "For a really conservative organization, we're trying to push the envelope into new media and new strategies," Ms. Weiss said. "We're giving people a peek behind the curtain, and hopefully they'll see the Oscars is more relevant for them today." ADVERTISING AGE

• Indeed, after keeping the presenters a secret till the Oscars aired last year, this year the academy is hyping the bold-faced names who will be appearing. First up are the three living winners of last year's acting Oscars: leads Sean Penn ("Milk") and Kate Winslet ("The Reader") and supporting champ Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Christina Barcelona"). Tradition has been that each of the previous year's winners presents the Oscar the following year across gender lines in their category. Cruz was expected to be at the Oscars anyway as she is a nominee for "Nine." 

• A report suggests Alec Baldwin's ex-wife Oscar champ Kim Basinger ("L.A. Confidential") could have been behind the media circus that sprung up following his late night visit to the emergency room Thursday. "Basinger, the buddy said, is jealous that Baldwin is co-hosting the Academy Awards next month and is using their daughter, Ireland, to rain on his parade. 'She's not not going to let that go by,' the pal said." NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

• While AMC is running a movie marathon of the best picture nominees nationwide, Melena Ryzik says "New Yorkers with a more pointed interest in this year’s race can check out the IFC Theater’s “Bigelow vs. Cameron” midnight series, starting Feb. 26, in which the formerly married directors and current Oscar contenders trade weekend screenings,. 'Can Bigelow’s Angela Bassett in 'Strange Days' take down femme action icon Sigourney Weaver in Cameron’s 'Aliens'?,' the news release asks. 'And will Cameron’s uber-80s juggernaut 'The Terminator' survive the indie rabbit punch of Bigelow’s redneck bloodsuckers in 'Near Dark'?' Seems like a fair fight." THE CARPETBAGGER

• Vanessa Redgrave is to be feted with a Fellowship -- the BAFTA equivalent of an honorary Oscar -- at the awardsfest on Feb. 21 in London. In making the announcement, David Parfitt, Chair of the Academy said: "We are absolutely thrilled to be awarding the fellowship to Vanessa. She is a hugely talented and respected actress who has served as an inspiration to the British film industry." And said Vanessa Redgrave: "I’m truly delighted, it’s such an honour to be recognised in this way. Looking through the list of past recipients shows what a wonderful accolade this is, and the fact that Alfred Hitchcock was the very first recipient makes it even more special, as my father (Michael Redgrave) made his first film with him." BAFTA

• MTV is moving the VMAs (Kanye) westward this year and the 27th annual edition of the awards will air live from Los Angeles on Sunday Sept. 12. And the 19th airing of the MTV movie kudos is now set for Sunday June 6 from the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal City. As per the announcement, "Emmy Award winner Mark Burnett returns for the fourth year in a row to executive produce the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, where movie megastars will vie for the golden popcorn in award categories as only MTV could create them including Best Kiss, Best Fight” and Best Comedic Performance. For the second time in Movie Awards history, the final 2010 nominees in addition to the winners, will be decided by the MTV fans."

Top photo: "Inglorious Basterds" poster. Credit: The Weinstein Co. 

Middle photo: Academy Awards statuettes. Credit: AMPAS

Bottom photo: Vanessa Redgrave. Credit: BAFTA

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Sure, "Slumdog Millionaire" was top dog at the Oscars, but it merely came in second place behind "Twilight" today when the MTV Movie Awards nominations were announced. "Twilight" reigned with seven nominations, including best picture, best breakthrough performance male (Robert Pattison and Taylor Lautner) and best female performance (Kristen Stewart).

"Slumdog Millionaire" reaped six nods, including best picture, competing, in addition to "Twilight," against "The Dark Knight," "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" and "Iron Man."

"Slumdog" star Dev Patel competes against Pattinson and Lautner for best breakthrough performance male along with Ben Barnes ("The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian") and Bobb'e J. Thompson ("Role Models"). Co-star Freida Pinto is up for best female breakthrough performance along with Ashley Tisdale and Vanessa Hudgens ("High School Musical 3: Senior Year"), Miley Cyrus ("Hannah Montana: The Movie"), Amanda Seyfried ("Mamma Mia!") and  Kat Dennings, ("Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist").

"Twilight" stars Pattinson and Stewart compete for best kiss opposite "Slumdog Millionaire" heartthrobs Patel and Pinto, as well as James Franco and Sean Penn ("Milk") and Paul Rudd and Thomas Lennon ("I Love You, Man").

"Twilight" and "Slumdog" will also square off in the new category for best song, in which Oscar champ "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog" takes on Paramore's "Decode" ("Twilight"), Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler," and Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" ("Hannah Montana: The Movie").

Another new category is "best WTF moment," which includes Amy Poehler peeing in the sink in "Baby Mama," Ben Stiller licking a decapitated head in "Tropic Thunder," young Jamal jumping into the outhouse excrement in "Slumdog Millionaire," Angelina Jolie killing all of her foes and herself with one curved bullet in "Wanted," and Jason Segel breaking up with Kristen Bell while naked in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."

"Saturday Night Live" star Andy Samberg has been tapped to host the 18th annual MTV Movie Awards on May 31. While these freewheeling kudos have traditional categories for picture and performance, awards are also handed out in more offbeat races like best villain and best kiss. Nominations will be announced in the coming weeks. Last year, "Transformers" won best picture while acting honors went to Ellen Page ("Juno") and Will Smith ("I Am Legend").

Andy Samberg's stock in Hollywood is certainly on the rise these days. He co-stars in the upcoming "I Love You, Man" with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. And in his four seasons on "SNL," he has established himself as the go-to guy for daring digital shorts. In 2007, he shared in an Emmy for crafting the notorious "... in a Box" that he performed with co-writer Justin Timberlake. This season, the pair appeared with good sport Beyonce in a remix of her video for "Single Ladies."

Andy Samberg might want to ask Justin Timberlake for advice on how to handle the raucous crowd that comes to these movie kudos as the singer emceed the 2003 edition with Seann William Scott. And he might want to seek out "SNL" alum  Mike Myers for tips on what not to do. Last year, Myers returned to emcee the MTV Movie Awards 11 years after first pulling hosting duty. Back in 1997, Myers was red hot with the success of  "Austin Powers." In 2008, he was eager to bring attention to his upcoming comedy "The Love Guru." That film would open three weeks later to scathing reviews and go on to win three Razzies for worst picture, actor and screenplay.

Other recent hosts include Sarah Silverman (2007), Jessica Alba (2006), Jimmy Fallon (2005) and Lindsay Lohan (2004). Samberg was among the team of writers who worked on those last two awardscasts and told MTV that hosting, "will be a sweet and satisfying homecoming."

And while talking to MTV about taking on the gig, Andy Samberg, 30, harkened back to the early days of the awards, way back in the nineties: "I grew up watching the show and a lot of the past hosts are heroes of mine." The kudos' connection with "SNL" dates back to the first year, 1992, when Dennis Miller handled the hosting.

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Photo: NBC

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While "Watchmen" opened this weekend to mixed reviews and a less-than-expected $55.7 million, it could still prevail at various movie kudofests. As not even the critically hailed "The Dark Knight" could break into the top Oscar races — with the exception of supporting actor winner Heath Ledger — "Watchmen" will be limited to contending there, if at all, in those crafts categories where "Iron Man" and other popcorn pictures get rewarded.

This graphic novel come to life was directed by Zack Snyder, who co-wrote and helmed the technically innovative "300" two years ago. For his efforts, Snyder won a Saturn Award from the sci-fi crowd, and that film won top honors there as well. In addition, "300" contended at the MTV Movie Awards, the People's Choice Awards and the Teen Choice Awards. And various craftspeople were nominated by the art directors, costumers, sound, and visual effects guilds and groups.

For "Watchmen," Snyder reassembled some of the key players from "300." Larry Fong once again handled cinematography and William Hoy edited. Costumes were by Michael Wilkinson, who earned a 2007 guild nod in fantasy film ("The Golden Compass" won). He also had a 2006 guild nod for the contemporary film "Babel" ("The Queen" won). The "Watchmen" score was composed by "300" alum Tyler Bates. And stunts were once more coordinated by Damon Caro, whose "300" crew lost the 2007 SAG race to "The Bourne Ultimatum."

New additions for "Watchmen" included the art direction team headed by Francois Audouy, a 2005 guild nominee in period/fantasy for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" ("Memoirs of a Geisha" won). Sound editing was by, among others, 2002 Oscar nominee Scott Hecker (his work on "Road to Perdition" lost to "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"). And special effects came from, among others, 2007 VES nominees Theo Vandernoot, Vincent Serritella and Pericles Michielin (their work on "Beowulf" lost to "Ratatouille").

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Photo: Warner Bros.

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As usual, the MTV Movie Awards' nominations slapped recent Oscar champs. The academy's winners of best picture ("No Country for Old Men"), best actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) and actress (Marion Cotillard) aren't nommed in corresponding categories, but — horrors! — Day-Lewis isn't even in the race for best villain! Hey, aren't MTV execs worried at all about him swinging that bowling pin in revenge?

Other shocking snubs include these from MTV's best-pic race: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "Ratatouille" and "Knocked Up" (apparently, there's room only for one Judd Apatow flick and that's "Superbad," which has 3 noms).

We were waaaaay off predicting the best-kiss lineup. It's likely that the MTV kiddies didn't see "Atonement" (too uppity for gum-snappers) so they didn't know about Keira Knightley's lusty lip lock with James McAvoy. And maybe we were wrong to suggest that Adam Sandler and Kevin James might be listed for "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry." They don't really smooch, but do get close and punch each other with obvious affection right after they say "I do!"

Missing from the list of best breakthrough performance of the year was easily the biggest: "Juno" star Ellen Page. Also Emile Hirsch ("Into the Wild") and Amy Adams ("Enchanted"). What about Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan ("Atonement")? Will they only notice her next year when she appears in Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones"?

And, hey, where was the whole category for best on-screen duo? Why was it dropped this year all of a sudden? When I asked a rep for MTV, she responded, "We change up the categories from time to time. :)"

See reax in our forums, CLICK HERE! See the full list of nominees and cast your vote at the MTV Movie Awards site - CLICK HERE