'Black Swan' Nominated for 12 Critics' Choice Awards

With a record 12 nominations for the Critics' Choice Awards, Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman as a ballerina obsessed with perfection, has emerged as the early frontrunner for this awards season.

The Darren Aronofsky-directed thriller picked up nominations in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress (for Mila Kunis) categories. In limited release, the movie has already grossed close to $6 million, and finished sixth in this weekend's box office despite playing in only 90 theaters.

Also nominated in the Best Picture category were James Franco's hiking thriller, 127 Hours; the Mark Wahlberg–Christian Bale boxing drama, The Fighter; Christopher Nolan's mind-bender, Inception; Colin Firth's The King's Speech; The Social Network; Ben Affleck's heist flick, The Town; the Coen brothers' True Grit; Winter's Bone; and Toy Story 3.

The King's Speech and True Grit each earned 11 nominations, while Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, received 10 and The Social Network, starring Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, received nine.

The Critics' Choice Awards take place Friday, January 14. —ISHITA SINGH