"Hanna," "Hugo," "Moneyball," "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" and "Super 8" sounded best in 2011, according to the members of the Cinema Audio Society.
The CAS, a non-profit organization of sound professionals that honors the best achievements in sound mixing each year, nominated those films for its top feature film award on Thursday.
Only "Hugo" (left) and "Moneyball" are in the running for the top Oscars, though the nominations may well overlap with the Academy's sound categories.
Last year's CAS feature film winner, "True Grit," was nominated for the Sound Mixing Oscar but lost to "Inception." The previous year's winner, "The Hurt Locker," won the Oscar.
In the television categories, the CAS went for a variety of shows – unlike last year, when four episodes of "The Pacific" competed against each other in the movies and mini-series category.
HBO had a typically strong showing, landing nominations for the movies "Cinema Verite" and "Too Big to Fail," the miniseries "Mildred Pierce" and the series "Boardwalk Empire" and "Game of Thrones." Other TV nominees include "Breaking Bad," "The Walking Dead" and "Dexter."
The strangest category combines television documentaries, variety and music shows, and resulted in a competition between the historical documentary "American Experience – Triangle Fire," the chess doc "Bobby Fischer Against the World," the fishing show "Deadliest Catch: New Blood" and two musical performances, the Metropolitan Opera doing John Adams' "Nixon in China" and Lady Gaga's Monster Ball tour.
The other Hollywood group that honors sound, the Motion Picture Sound Editors, will release its nominations on Friday. Unlike the CAS, it nominates a broad range of films in a variety of categories.
The CAS Awards will be presented on February 18 in the Crystal Ballroom of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The CAS Career Achievement Award will be presented to Scott Millan, and the CAS Filmmaker Award will go to Rob Marshall.
The nominees:
MOTION PICTURES:
Hanna
Production Mixer: Roland Winke
Re-recording Mixers: Christopher Scarabosio, Craig Berkey, CAS
Scoring Mixer: Andrew Dudman
Hugo
Production Mixer: John Midgley
Re-recording Mixer: Tom Fleischman, CAS
Scoring Mixer: Simon Rhodes
Moneyball
Production Mixer: Ed Novick
Re-recording Mixers: Deb Adair, CAS, Ron Bochar, CAS, David Giammarco
Scoring Mixer: Brad Haenel
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Production Mixer: Lee Orloff, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Paul Massey, CAS, Chris Boyes
Scoring Mixer: Alan Meyerson
Super 8
Production Mixer: Mark Ulano, CAS
Re-recording Mixers: Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer
Scoring Mixer: Dan Wallin
TELEVISION MOVIES AND MINI-SERIES:
Cinema Verite
Production Mixer: Petur Hliddal
Re-recording Mixers: Lora Hirschberg, Scott Lewis, Douglas Murray
Scoring Mixer: Greg Townley
Innocent
Production Mixer: Shane Connelly
Re-recording Mixers: Mark Hensley, Tamara Johnson, CAS
The Kennedys: Hour 7
Production Mixer: Henry Embry, CAS
Re-recording Mixer: Frank Morrone, CAS, Stephen Traub
Scoring Mixer: Larold Rebhun
Mildred Pierce : Part 5
Production Mixer: Drew Kunin
Re-recording Mixer: Leslie Shatz
Scoring Mixer: Todd Whitelock
Too Big to Fail
Production Mixer: James J.
