Even though the movie is not set to enter American cinemas until 19 December, "Zero Dark Thirty", a film about the US operation to kill Osama bin Laden, has been acclaimed the best movie of 2012 by New York film critics.
Director Kathryn Bigelow was also awarded best director by the New York Film Critics Circle for her grim, journalist-style docudrama about the hunt for the founder of Al Qaeda.
The movie has provoked a stir in the US even before its official release, with Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal being questioned regarding their information sources for the film.
According to the filmmakers, the assault on bin Laden's Pakistan compound was recreated as accurately as possible, using a full-scale version built in Jordan. The floor, the tiles, the carpet, the furniture and the marks on the walls were copied from images seen in ABC News footage that Bigelow said they reviewed frame by frame.
"I certainly did a lot of homework, but I never asked for classified material," Boal said. "To my knowledge I never received any."
The critics' group also cast a strong vote for Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," bestowing it with three awards: Daniel Day-Lewis for best actor, Sally Field for best actress and Tony Kushner for best screenplay.
The awards, announced Monday, will be handed out at a ceremony on 7 January.
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