Musical La La Land is hoping to pave the way to Oscar glory with success at the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday.
The film has received 12 nominations, including nods for stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the best actor and best actress categories.
Sci-fi drama Arrival and Moonlight, which follows a gay black man coming of age in Miami, scored 10 nominations for the awards show, which recognises both film and television talent.
Actor and comedian T J Miller is hosting the ceremony in Santa Monica, California, two days after he was arrested for allegedly hitting an Uber driver.
La La Land, which has been hailed as an early favourite for Oscar nominations, is up for best picture, best director for Damien Chazelle and best original screenplay at the Critics' Choice Awards.
Arrival and Moonlight scored best picture and best director nods, with Amy Adams receiving a best actress nomination for her role as a linguistics expert in Arrival.
Skyfall star Naomie Harris scored a best supporting actress nomination for her role as a crack addict in Moonlight, while fellow Briton Dev Patel is up for best supporting actor for his role in Lion.
La La Land, Arrival and Moonlight are joined in the best picture category by Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Lion, Loving, Manchester By The Sea and Sully.
Adams and Stone will compete for the best actress award against Annette Bening for 20th Century Women, Isabelle Huppert for French film Elle, Ruth Negga for Loving and Natalie Portman for Jacqueline Kennedy biopic Jackie.
Denzel Washington, who both directed and stars in Fences, has picked up nominations for his directing and acting, while his co-star Viola Davis is nominated as best supporting actress.
Washington and Gosling will vie for the best actor prize alongside Casey Affleck for Manchester By The Sea, Joel Edgerton for Loving, Andrew Garfield for Hacksaw Ridge and Tom Hanks for Sully.
In the television categories, The Night Manager, starring Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman, is up for a number of awards.
The BBC series is nominated for the best limited series or movie made for television award, while Hugh Laurie and Elizabeth Debicki picked up nods for their supporting roles.
Hiddleston will compete against Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch for best actor in a limited series or movie made for TV, while Colman is in the best actress in a limited series category alongside The People v OJ Simpson star Sarah Paulson.
BBC Three comedy Fleabag and royal drama The Crown also scored nominations at the American awards.
Fleabag, which streams on Amazon Prime in the USA, received a nod for best comedy series, while creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge picked up a best actress in a comedy nomination.
Netflix's prestige series The Crown, which stars Claire Foy and Matt Smith, has been nominated for best drama series, while John Lithgow, who plays Winston Churchill, has been recognised in the best supporting actor in a drama category and Jared Harris, who plays King George, is recognised in the guest performer category.
The 22nd Critics' Choice Awards starts at 5pm local time. (1am Monday UK time).