Bafta members have never shied away from embracing popular commercial film-making.

The awards often salute mainstream favourites and this year sees a slew of high profile UK-US co-productions including Mamma Mia! The Movie and Quantum Of Solace, as well as Hollywood blockbusters with significant UK elements such as Prince Caspian and The Dark Knight.

The nine nominations for Casino Royale in 2006 represented a breakthrough for the James Bond series and Daniel Craig's best actor nomination made him the first actor to be nominated for playing 007.

It seems unlikely that Quantum Of Solace will be quite so generously rewarded, except perhaps in the technical categories. The film may have broken box-office records for the franchise, but the novelty value of the Casino Royale reinvention has faded.

History teaches us it is almost impossible for an actor to be nominated twice for playing the same character. Ian McKellen managed it with nominations for his role as Gandalf in the first two instalments of The Lord Of The Rings.

But iconic figures such as Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter and Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid remain one-time only Bafta nominees.

The one US-UK blockbuster Bafta voters may feel unable to ignore is Mamma Mia! With a UK box-office gross of around $100m (£69m) it is the most successful British film ever released in the UK.

There seems too much competition from prestige titles for it to be a Korda contender but there could be enough momentum to propel Bafta favourite Julie Walters to a best supporting actress nomination or Bafta might acknowledge it with an Orange Rising Star nod to Dominic Cooper, also on view in The Duchess and The Escapist.

The Dark Knight combined critical acclaim with global box-office success which might be enough to put UK-born Christopher Nolan in the running for best director.

Three years ago, Batman Begins won three nominations in technical categories and there are so many potent best actor contenders such as Sean Penn (Milk), Michael Fassbender (Hunger) and Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon) that UK-born star Christian Bale seems unlikely to be rewarded for his second performance as the caped crusader.

That leaves only the possibility of Heath Ledger gaining a posthumous best supporting actor nomination. Ledger was a Bafta nominee for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and there are Bafta precedents for posthumous nominations, notably Oliver Reed (Gladiator) and Ulrich Muhe (The Lives Of Others).