"Twilight" leads People's Choice nominations

Fans cheer during a panel discussion for the upcoming movie ''The Twilight Saga: New Moon'' during the 40th annual Comic Con Convention in San Diego July 23, 2009.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Twilight" shone at the nominations for the People's Choice Awards on Tuesday, with its three stars, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner each in the running for a trophy at the event celebrating the most popular stars of film, TV and music.

The "Twilight" movie series, which enters its second installment on November 20 with the "New Moon" sequel, also won a nod for best franchise among its leading seven nominations.

Voted on by the public, the awards will be given out on January 6, in one of the earliest shows in Hollywood's awards season.

Pattinson, who plays vampire Edward Cullen in the "Twilight" series, was nominated for favorite movie actor and Stewart was nominated for favorite movie actress. Lautner, 17, was nominated for favorite breakout movie actor.

Last year, the People's Choice Awards nominees were announced 11 days before "Twilight" was released. The movie went on to make nearly $384 million at worldwide box offices, becoming one of 2008's biggest surprise hits.

This time, "Twilight" will compete for favorite movie franchise against "Harry Potter," "Star Trek," "Transformers" and "X-Men."

In the music categories, singer Britney Spears won nominations for favorite pop artist and favorite female artist, competing against Taylor Swift, the top selling artist of 2008.

Sandra Bullock, who starred in the romantic comedy "The Proposal" after a two-year absence from movie screens, was nominated for favorite movie actress.

Vampire-themed shows "True Blood" and "The Vampire Diaries" also picked up nominations in the television category along with veterans including "CSI" and "House" and teen shows "The Hills" and "Gossip Girl."

Winners at the People's Choice Awards will be chosen by a public online vote at the websites peopleschoice.com and myspace.com/peopleschoiceawards. Voting for most categories ends on December 8.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Jill Serjeant)