Madonna and Sir Elton John face off at the Oscars

It's not just the nominees who would have been battling it out at the glamorous Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles.

Behind the scenes at the Kodak Theatre, a war has been waging between two of the world's biggest stars, Sir Elton John and Madonna, who are throwing rival post-Oscar parties at the same time, 3 kilometres from each other in Hollywood.

In a battle of A-list egos, the feuding stars have spent the days leading up to the 84th Academy Awards ceremony trying to outshine one another in a desperate attempt to host the best Oscars party in town.

John, 64, and civil partner David Furnish are holding their annual Oscar dinner party at the Pacific Design Centre in aid of the Elton John Aids Foundation.

Tickets to the event cost $3,500 (Dh12,852) and last year it raised $4 million.

Katy Perry, Chace Crawford, Dita Von Teese, Heidi Klum and Jessica Alba are among the invited guests.

But Madonna, who is engaged in a long-running spat with John, is determined to upstage his dinner. The 53-year-old has poached John's favourite LA florist, Eric Butterbaugh, and has promised guests she will sing live at her party.

Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Britney Spears, Natalie Portman, Sean Penn, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez and Tom Cruise are reportedly confirmed to attend the party at her manager Guy Oseary's house.

The singer, whose film W.E. has been nominated in the Oscars costume design category, has apparently even phoned Penelope Cruz, Bradley Cooper and Cameron Diaz to personally invite them to the party, which she usually co-hosts with Demi Moore, who is recovering from a breakdown.

"Madonna wants to make sure she has better guests than Elton. The war between them has now become quite personal," said a source.

"Madonna has been calling people up asking them to attend. Most of the big names will go to the Vanity Fair party, then they will head to Madonna's after that."

Stars and nominees attend the post-Academy Award's dinner, the Governors Ball, before taking their pick of glamorous after-parties.

According to one source, Madonna is so keen to ensure her party is well attended she been calling in favours from contacts so that her guests get to leave with a goodie bag.

Madonna and John first fell out at the Q Awards in 2004 when Madonna won Best Live Act and John accused her of lip-syncing.

He reignited their feud recently when he said Madonna would not sing live at the Super Bowl earlier this month. He also said she had "no f*****g chance" of winning a Golden Globe for W.E. — before she took home the award.

— Daily Mail

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