Los Angeles  - At the distinctly un-starlike hour of 5:30 am (1330 GMT) Thursday morning, the Oscar season will officially move into high gear.

That's when Forest Whitaker, who won an Oscar in 2006's The Last King Of Scotland, will unveil the nominations for the 2008 Academy Awards from Hollywood's Samuel Goldwyn Theatre.

Forest, 47, will be reading out the names at the press conference alongside Sid Ganis, who heads the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The exuberant Mumbai-based drama Slumdog Millionaire is widely expected to emerge as the frontrunner for Oscar glory, after its sweep of the Golden Globes.

Other films in the running are the Batman tale The Dark Knight, political narrative Frost/Nixon, animated masterpiece WALL-E, gay biopic Milk, and Brad Pitt's period piece, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Other films to watch out for are The Wrestler, whose comeback star Mickey Rourke is virtually certain to be nominated for the best actor prize, Catholic abuse drama Doubt, with Meryl Streep, and The Reader and Revolutionary Road, both starring Kate Winslet, first as a former Nazi guard, and second as the frustrated suburban wife of Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Oscars will be presented on February 22 in Los Angeles. (dpa)