Director Richard Linklater's critically-acclaimed drama Boyhood will do battle with Gone Girl, The Imitation Game and American Sniper for the top prize at the American Cinema Editors' Eddie Awards.

Nightcrawler and Whiplash are also shortlisted for the Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic) title, which has six contenders instead of the usual five this year (15) due to a tie.

Meanwhile, the feature editing, comedy or musical nominees are Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Into the Woods, Inherent Vice and Guardians of the Galaxy.

The Ace picks generally serve as good indicators for the Academy Awards - the winner of the dramatic feature editing prize has gone on to strike gold for editing at the Oscars in the past nine out of 12 years, while the victor in either the dramatic or comedy/musical categories has claimed the Best Picture Oscar seven times in the same period, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Other nominations for the Eddie Awards include Big Hero 6, The Boxtrolls and The Lego Movie for Best Edited Animated Feature Film, episodes of 24, Mad Men and Sherlock for Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television, and instalments of True Detective and House of Cards for the Non-Commercial Television category.

The winners will be unveiled on 30 January (15) during a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in California.