"Lincoln", the story of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's battle to end slavery starring Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role, won 10 BAFTA nominations on Wednesday, putting it ahead of the pack for Britain's top film honours.
"Les Miserables", the movie version of the global hit stage musical, and shipwreck saga "Life of Pi" followed with nine each, followed by the latest instalment of James Bond, "Skyfall", which garnered eight.
Iranian hostage thriller "Argo" won seven nominations and "Anna Karenina", an adaptation of the Russian novel, earned six.
Quentin Tarantino's quirky slavery-era Western "Django Unchained" and "Zero Dark Thirty", about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, were just behind on five nominations apiece.
The BAFTAs have a patchy record in predicting which films go on to win the biggest movie honours, the Oscars, although last year the big winner in London, "The Artist", also swept to success at the Academy Awards.
The awards ceremony for the BAFTAs, formally called the EE British Academy Film Awards, takes place in London on Feb. 10.
