Brits to dominate at the Empires?

Updated 17.39 Mon Feb 04 2008

Keywords: Harry Potter, Atonement, Empire

Atonement and Harry Potter And The Order of The Phoenix have emerged as joint favourites to triumph at the Sony Ericsson Empire Awards.

Both films have picked up six nominations.

Atonement is nominated for Best Actress (Keira Knightley)

Atonement is nominated for Best British Film, Best Actress (Keira Knightley), Best Actor (James McAvoy), Best Director (Joe Wright), Best Newcomer (Saoirse Ronan) and Best Soundtrack.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix is in contention for Best Film, Best Actor (Daniel Radcliffe), Best Actress (Emma Watson), Best Director (David Yates), Best Sci-fi/Fantasy and Best Soundtrack.

Mark Dinning, Empire magazine's editor, said: "Once again it's a fascinating and exciting list of nominees. That sophisticated films such as Atonement and Zodiac can rub up against blockbusters like 300 and Transformers proves that cinema audiences are a terrific judge of movies."

The awards show will be broadcast on ITV2 on Monday, March 10 at 9pm.