Will Smith, Halle Berry among this year’s Razzie Award nominees

The silly comedy sequel about four childhood friends starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock and David Spade led the Razzie lineup Tuesday with eight nominations, including worst picture, sequel, ensemble, screenplay, lead actor for Sandler, supporting actor for Taylor Lautner, supporting actress for Salma Hayek and director for Dennis Dugan.

Sandler is not a stranger to the Razzies, which launched in 1980 as a spoof of Hollywood’s awards season. He won the worst actor trophy last year for the man-child comedy “That’s My Boy,” and his 2011 cross-dressing comedy “Jack and Jill” made Razzie history the year before with a record 10 awards, with Sandler winning both the worst actor and actress prizes.

This year’s other worst-picture nominees are the Wild West romp “The Lone Ranger” starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, Tyler Perry’s holiday comedy “A Madea Christmas,” sci-fi coming-of-age story “After Earth” starring Will and Jaden Smith, and comedy anthology “Movie 43” featuring the likes of Kate Winslet, Richard Gere, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry.

“After Earth,” ”A Madea Christmas” and “Movie 43” are tied with six nods each. In addition to worst picture, screenplay and ensemble nominations, they’re also in worst actor, actress and supporting actor slots for Will and Jaden Smith of “After Earth,” Perry and Larry the Cable Guy of “A Madea Christmas,” and Berry and Naomi Watts of “Movie 43.”

The Razzies announcement comes ahead of Thursday’s Oscar nominations. Winners for the 34th annual Razzies will be announced March 1, the night before the 86th annual Academy Awards. While far less star-studded than other award shows, past winners like Berry and Sandra Bullock have sometimes shown up in person to claim their gold spray-painted prizes.

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