'Avatar,' 'Hurt Locker' lead expanded Oscar parade (AP)

LOS ANGELES – Academy Awards voters are expected to go very big or very small on their best-picture winner at Sunday's Oscars.

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The two favorites in the expanded field of 10 best-picture nominees are the as-big-as-it-gets blockbuster "Avatar" and the critical darling " The Hurt Locker ," which drew a tiny fraction of the audience its mammoth competitor pulled in. James Cameron 's "Avatar" would be the only science-fiction film ever to take home the best-picture prize. While war films have done well at the Oscars, Kathryn Bigelow 's "The Hurt Locker" would be the first winner centered on the war on terror , a subject that has stirred little interest among movie audiences shell-shocked by news coverage of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Full Story: 'Avatar,' 'Hurt Locker' lead expanded Oscar parade (AP)