The hit musical, "Dreamgirls," topped the nominee list for the 79th Annual Academy Awards on Tuesday with eight nominations. However, it surprisingly failed to catch a shot at the much-desired best motion picture award.

"Babel" closely followed with seven nominations, including bids for best original screenplay and best picture. The latter category also included nominations for the indie-hit "Little Miss Sunshine," Clint Eastwood's World War II epic "Letters from Iwo Jima," the British drama "The Queen" and Martin Scorsese's "The Departed."

Speaking of Martin Scorsese, this year's Oscars could finally put an end to his long-lasting losing streak. With five nominations and five losses so far, chances substantially grow for the Italian director to finally take home a much-deserved golden statuette.

The best actor category this year included nominations for Leonardo DiCaprio in "Blood Diamond," Will Smith as Chris Gardner in "The Pursuit of Happyness" and Forest Whitaker as Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, in "The Last King of Scotland."

The potential front-runners for the best actress trophy were Helen Mirren for her performance as Elizabeth II in "The Queen," and Penélope Cruz for her work in Pedro Almodóvar's Spanish drama, "Volver."

Foreign language films were numerous among the nominated this year.  Which is an indication that Hollywood might be on the lookout for more diversity. Guillermo del Toro's Mexican fantasy-drama, "Pan's Labyrinth," scored six nominations.  Among those included best screenplay, best cinematography and best art direction.

Further surprises at Tuesday's news conference at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were the supporting-actor bids for Eddie Murphy in "Dreamgirls," and Mark Wahlberg in "The Departed." Both actors took home their very first Oscar nomination.

The 79th Annual Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. EST.