By Gregg Kilday

"Precious"

The nominations for the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards, announced Tuesday morning, brought good news and bad news for Lionsgate’s “Precious.” The good news is that Lee Daniels’ gritty adaptation of Sapphire’s novel “Push” is virtually assured a win as best feature at the Spirit Awards, to be held March 5. The bad news: That also means that “Precious” won’t be named best picture at the Oscars on March 7.

True, both “Precious” and the Tolstoy-marital-drama “The Last Station” each earned five Spirit noms, seemingly putting them on an even footing. Both are competing for best feature and best director (where Daniels will face off against “Station’s” Michael Hoffman) and earned screenplay noms. Additionally, each got two acting noms: Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique for “Precious” and Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer for “Station.” But you still have to give “Precious” the edge. The Spirit best feature trophy is usually something of a popularity contest — the voting is open to all members of Film Independent — and, at the moment, “Precious” has grossed nearly $33 million, a relative fortune in the indie world, while “Station” doesn’t open until Dec. 23.