THE BROADCAST FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES THE NOMINEES FOR THE 10TH ANNUAL CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS

Burbank, CA - December 15, 2004

THE BROADCAST FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES THE NOMINEES FOR THE 10TH ANNUAL CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS

ERIC McCORMACK TO HOST THE GALA

THE WB NETWORK WILL TELECAST THE CEREMONY LIVE ON MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2005 AT 8:00 PM ET/PT

The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced the nominees for the 10th annual Critics' Choice Awards. The 194 members of the BFCA, the largest film critics organization in the United States and Canada, representing television, radio and online critics, selected nominees in each of 19 categories. The winners will be announced at the Critics' Choice Awards gala on Monday, January 10, 2005 at the Wiltern Theatre. The Critics' Choice Awards were created by the BFCA to recognize excellence in cinematic achievement. Eligible films were released in the 2004 calendar year and are selected by written ballots. The accounting firm of White, Zuckerman, Warsavsky, Luna & Wolf tallied the balloting.

The WB Network will telecast the ceremony LIVE on Monday, January 10th at 8:00 PM ET/PT. "Will and Grace" star Eric McCormack will return for the second year to host the 10th annual gala. The Critics' Choice Awards is the only major movie awards show televised before Oscar ballots are cast.

Tom Cruise will be the inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Career Achievement in Performing Arts Award. This special award acknowledges the three-time Academy Award nominee for his outstanding body of work. Cruise joins an illustrious list of special award recipients at the Critics' Choice Awards ceremonies. Past honorees have included Clint Eastwood, Peter Weir, Denzel Washington, Antwone Fisher, Muhammad Ali, Steven Spielberg among many others.

"Sideways" received the most nominations with eight nods while "Finding Neverland" followed closely with seven nominations. Both films are nominated in the Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and Best Writer categories. Among other Best Picture contenders, "The Aviator" came in third with six nominations, while "Kinsey," "Million Dollar Baby" and "Ray" tied with four nominations.

The Critics' Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations. In the past seven years, since the BFCA began nominating films, 33 of 35 (94%) Oscar nominees for Best Picture were first Critics¿ Choice Award nominees for Best Picture. Last year, 16 of the 21 (76%) Critics' Choice Award actor/actress nominees went on to receive Oscar nominations.

The WB is a sharply focused broadcast network targeted to 12-34 year olds, a highly desired demographic for advertisers. The network has achieved great success reaching this group through the consistent development and marketing of quality scripted series currently on its schedule including "7th Heaven," "Smallville," "Gilmore Girls," "Charmed," "Everwood," "One Tree Hill" and "Reba." Launched in January 1995, The WB Television Network broadcasts 29 weekly hours of programming on over 200 affiliated stations covering more than 92% of the country.

The list of nominees follows:

NOMINEES FOR THE 10TH ANNUAL CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS

BEST PICTURE:
The Aviator
Collateral
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Finding Neverland
Hotel Rwanda
Kinsey
Million Dollar Baby
The Phantom of the Opera
Ray
Sideways

BEST ACTOR:
Javier Bardem -- "The Sea Inside"
Don Cheadle -- "Hotel Rwanda"
Johnny Depp -- "Finding Neverland"
Leonardo DiCaprio -- "The Aviator"
Jamie Foxx -- "Ray"
Paul Giamatti -- "Sideways" �

BEST ACTRESS:
Annette Bening -- "Being Julia"
Catalina Sandino Moreno -- "Maria Full of Grace"
Imelda Staunton -- "Vera Drake"
Hilary Swank -- "Million Dollar Baby"
Uma Thurman -- "Kill Bill: Vol. 2"
Kate Winslet -- "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Thomas Haden Church -- "Sideways"
Jamie Foxx -- "Collateral"
Morgan Freeman -- "Million Dollar Baby"
Clive Owen -- "Closer"
Peter Sarsgaard -- "Kinsey"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Cate Blanchett -- "The Aviator"
Laura Linney -- "Kinsey"
Virginia Madsen -- "Sideways"
Natalie Portman -- "Closer"
Kate Winslet -- "Finding Neverland"

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE:
Closer
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Ocean's Twelve
Sideways

BEST DIRECTOR:
Clint Eastwood -- "Million Dollar Baby"
Marc Forster -- "Finding Neverland"
Taylor Hackford -- "Ray"
Alexander Payne -- "Sideways"
Martin Scorsese -- "The Aviator"

BEST WRITER:
Bill Condon -- "Kinsey"
Charlie Kaufman -- "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"
John Logan -- "The Aviator"
David Magee -- "Finding Neverland"
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor -- "Sideways"

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
The Incredibles
The Polar Express
Shrek 2

BEST YOUNG ACTOR:
Liam Aiken -- "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"
Cameron Bright -- "Birth"
Freddie Highmore -- "Finding Neverland"
Daniel Radcliffe -- "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"
William Ullrich -- "Beyond the Sea"

BEST YOUNG ACTRESS:
Emily Browning -- "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"
Dakota Fanning -- "Man on Fire"
Lindsay Lohan -- "Mean Girls"
Emmy Rossum -- "The Phantom of the Opera"
Emma Watson -- "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"

BEST POPULAR MOVIE:
The Bourne Supremacy
The Incredibles
Napoleon Dynamite
The Passion of the Christ
Spider-Man 2

BEST FAMILY FILM (LIVE ACTION):
Finding Neverland
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Miracle
Spider-Man 2

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION:
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Something the Lord Made
The Wool Cap

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
House of Flying Daggers
Maria Full of Grace
The Motorcycle Diaries
The Sea Inside
A Very Long Engagement

BEST SONG:
"Accidentally in Love" by the Counting Crows from "Shrek 2"
"Believe¿ by Josh Groban from "The Polar Express"
"Old Habits Die Hard" by Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart from "Alfie"

BEST SOUNDTRACK:
Alfie
Beyond the Sea
De-Lovely
Garden State
Ray

BEST COMPOSER:
Michael Giacchino -- "The Incredibles"
Rolfe Kent -- "Sideways"
Howard Shore -- "The Aviator"

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Control Room
Fahrenheit 9/11
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Super-Size Me