LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The film "The Shape of Water" led the race for the 90th Academy Awards, or the Oscars, with 13 nominations, organizers announced Tuesday.

"Dunkirk" and "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri" were also emerged as strong contenders with 8 and 7 nominations each, respectively.

Guillermo Del Toro's fantasy thriller romance, "The Shape of Water," about a mute cleaning lady drawn into an otherworldly love affair, got nominations including almost all of the major categories -- Best picture, Best director, Best actress, Best supporting actor and Best supporting actress.

It will compete for best picture with eight other films -- "Call Me By Your Name," "Darkest Hour," "Dunkirk." "Get Out," "Lady Bird," "Phantom Thread," "The Post," "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can nominate up to 10 films in the category.

Guillermo del Toro (the Shape of Water), Christopher Nolan ("Dunkirk"), Jordan Peele ("Get Out"), Greta Gerwig ("Lady Bird"), Paul Thomas Anderson ("Phantom Thread") were nominated for the Best Director award.

Gary Oldman will compete with Timothee Chalamet ( "Call Me by Your Name" ), Daniel Day-Lewis ( "Phantom Thread" ), Daniel Kaluuya ( "Get Out" ) and Denzel Washington( "Roman J. Israel, Esq." ) for best actor in a leading role. Oldman is already the winner of the 75th Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Award and the Outstanding Male Actor in a Motion Picture of the 24th Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards in this Hollywood awards season for his stunning portrayal of Winston Churchill in the British biographical war picture "Darkest Hour."

Sally Hawkins and Frances McDormand both got nods for best actress in a leading role for their superlative work in "The Shape of Water" and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" respectively. They will compete with Margot Robbie ("I, Tonya"), Saoirse Ronan ("Lady Bird") and Meryl Streep ("The Post").

The nominees for best supporting actor include: Willem Dafoe ("The Florida Project"), Woody Harrelson ("Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"), Richard Jenkins ("The Shape of Water"), Christopher Plummer ("All the Money in the World") and Sam Rockwell ("Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri").

Battle for best supporting actress will be among Mary J. Blige ("Mudbound"), Allison Janney ("I, Tonya"), Leslie Manville ("Phantom Thread"), Laurie Metcalf ("Lady Bird") and Octavia Spencer ("The Shape of Water").

The nominees for Best animated feature film are "The Boss Baby", "The Breadwinner", "Coco", "Ferdinand" and "Loving Vincent."

"A Fantastic Woman" (Chile), "The Insult" (Lebanon), "Loveless" (

Rounding out the rest of its nominations were for cinematography, screenplay, costume design, film editing, original score, production design, visual effects, sound editing and sound mixing.