The sparkle of “Dreamgirls” was overwhelmed yesterday by the quirky charms of the underdog-turned-crowd-favorite “Little Miss Sunshine” as the nominees were announced for the 79th annual Academy Awards. Locked out of the top three categories — best picture, director, and screenplay — “Dreamgirls,” which took home a Golden Globe for best picture last week, found itself in the rare position of being the most nominated (eight nods in all) yet most rebuffed film of the Oscar race.

Prior to yesterday’s announcements, most pundits agreed that “The Departed,” “Babel,” and “The Queen” (and “Dreamgirls” for that matter) were shoo-ins for the best picture category, but when it came to the final two slots — which ended up being “Letters From Iwo Jima” and “Little Miss Sunshine” — a number of front-runners found themselves pushed aside, chief among them “Dreamgirls,” “Little Children,” and “United 93,” which did earn a surprise best director nod for Paul Greengrass.

In a year of relatively few surprises — though Ryan Gosling’s nod in the best actor category for his role as a drug-addicted teacher in the tiny “Half Nelson” was a pleasant one — the day’s most surprising announcements came in the supporting categories. From “Little Miss Sunshine,” 10-year-old Abigail Breslin was nominated for her portrayal of a little girl whose heart is set on competing in a beauty pageant. Meanwhile, Jackie Earle Haley from “Little Children,” who played a convicted sex offender, followed up his award from the New York Film Critics Circle with an Oscar nod. The category’s notable missing name was Jack Nicholson, who was edged out by “Departed” co-star Mark Wahlberg.

As is almost always the case, serious film buffs found the three most interesting lists of names in the categories of best director, original screenplay, and adapted screenplay.

Martin Scorsese is thought to be the directorial front-runner (finally) for his work on “The Departed,” and three of the other nominees — Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Babel”), Clint Eastwood (“Letters From Iwo Jima”), and Stephen Frears (“The Queen”) — were expected. But in the final, coveted slot, the Academy ignored Bill Condon (“Dreamgirls”) and instead recognized Mr. Greengrass, who delivered the stunningly understated first film about the attacks of September 11, 2001, “United 93.”

Many of the year’s best films, locked out of other categories, found their way in to the screenplay category. “Pan’s Labyrinth,” which was nominated for best foreign film, joined “The Queen” and “Little Miss Sunshine” as original screenplay nominees (as well as “Babel” and “Iwo Jima”).

“Little Children” earned a nomination for best adapted screenplay, as did the woefully underappreciated “Children of Men,” the brooding “Notes on a Scandal,” “The Departed,” and “Borat.”

Yes, it truly is the year of Golden Globe winner Sacha Baron Cohen: “Borat” can officially be called an Oscar nominee.

WINNERS, LOSERS, AND SURPRISES

The day’s four biggest losers must include “Dreamgirls” which, despite its eight nominations (including three — yes, three —for best original song), was snubbed for best director and best picture; “Little Children,” an outside contender for picture and director, found itself removed from the discussion; and “The Good Shepherd,” Robert De Niro’s late-in-the-year CIA drama, was all but forgotten.

The four biggest winners include “Iwo Jima,” which made the transition from foreign film at the Golden Globes to best picture contender at the Oscars; the acting duo of Judi Dench and Cate Blancett, who snapped up best actress and best supporting actress nods, respectively, for “Scandal”; “Babel,” which solidified its hold on Oscar’s major categories with seven nominations; and, of course, Ms. Breslin, who became the fourth-youngest nominee in Oscar history. “Venus” star Peter O’Toole, 64 years her senior, will set the record for the most nominations (eight) without a win should he fail to take home the best actor award.

There were even a few surprises to behold, the biggest being Borat’s Oscar breakthrough, the perseverance of Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto” with a handful of technical award nominations, Mr. Greengrass’s day of vindication for his brave film, and, in the documentary category, a nod for “My Country, My Country,” a film about the Iraq War that received an extremely limited theatrical release before airing on television.

Heres’ a quick rundown of the top eight categories:

BEST PICTURE: “Babel,” “The Departed,” “Letters From Iwo Jima,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “The Queen.”

BEST DIRECTOR: Alejandro González Iñárritu, “Babel”; Martin Scorsese, “The Departed”; Clint Eastwood, “Letters From Iwo Jima”; Stephen Frears, “The Queen”; Paul Greengrass, “United 93.”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: “After the Wedding,” “Days of Glory,” “The Lives of Others,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Water.”

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: “Deliver Us From Evil,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Iraq in Fragments,” “Jesus Camp,” “My Country, My Country.”

BEST ACTOR: Leonardo Di-Caprio, “Blood Diamond”; Ryan Gosling, “Half Nelson”; Peter O’Toole, “Venus”; Will Smith, “The Pursuit of Happyness”; Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland.”

BEST ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz, “Volver”; Judi Dench, “Notes on a Scandal”; Helen Mirren, “The Queen”; Meryl Streep, “The Devil Wears Prada”; Kate Winslet, “Little Children.”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Alan Arkin, “Little Miss Sunshine”; Jackie Earle Haley, “Little Children”; Djimon Hounsou, “Blood Diamond”; Eddie Murphy, “Dreamgirls”; Mark Wahlberg, “The Departed.”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Adriana Barraza, “Babel”; Cate Blanchett, “Notes on a Scandal”; Abigail Breslin, “Little Miss Sunshine”; Jennifer Hudson, “Dreamgirls”; Rinko Kikuchi, “Babel.”