The Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) used to announce its list of nominees after the Oscars did, meaning the Best Sound Editing category was the one field without much in the way of precursor clues for predicting. That changed recently and now we can get an idea of where the sound branch might lean in the field.

The nominees, announced today, feature four of the five films I’m currently predicting in the category: “The Adventures of Tintin,” “Hugo,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Super 8.” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” was not mentioned anywhere after picking up a Cinema Audio Society nomination yesterday, so maybe I’ll need to rethink that one.

“Super 8” is clearly a favorite, nailing down the only three nods it could have received. “Drive,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” and “War Horse,” meanwhile, each got two.

In the sound effects and foley department, which is kind of the guide post for the Oscar category here, two films I’ve been spotlighting as potential nominees showed up: “Fast Five” and “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.” Perhaps one of them could make the cut, or perhaps even “Drive” could surprise (it’s a film that’s popped up in conversation with sound mixers).

And I’m pleased to see that “The Tree of Life” registered in some way.

The animated field contains just about every film that could show up as a nominee, but the only one I’ve heard mentioned frequently enough by voters in the branch is “The Adventures of Tintin.”

So chalk it up as another industry group spoken for. Check out the MPSE nominees for Best Sound Editing in feature films below.

Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film
“Drive”
“Fast Five”
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Super 8”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“War Horse”

Music in a Feature Film
“Drive”
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
“Hop”
“Hugo”
“Priest”
“Super 8”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“The Tree of Life”

Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Film
“Abduction”
“The Help”
“Moneyball”
“Quarantine II: Terminal”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Super 8”
“War Horse”
“The Way”

Music in a Musical Feature Film
“Footloose”
“The Muppets”
“Perfect Age of Rock n’ Roll”
“Pina”

Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR in an Animated Film
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Cars 2”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”
“Rio”
“The Smurfs”

Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue, ADR and Music in a Feature Documentary
“Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey”
“Cave of Forgotten Dreams”
“George Harrison: Living in the Material World”
“Lemmy”
“Pearl Jam Twenty”

Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Foreign Language Film
“1920: The World’s Most Important Battle”
“Circumstance”
“Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within”
“The Flowers of War”
“In the Land of Blood and Honey”
“Sarah’s Key”
“The Skin I Live In”

Remember to keep track of the ups and downs of the 2011-2012 film awards season via The Circuit.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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