Less than 24 hours after this year's Oscars nominations were announced by actor Jennifer Lawrence in Los Angeles, an extended round of soul-searching, navel-gazing and outright angst surrounded notable absentees such as We Need to Talk About Kevin, Drive and Tintin.

The recriminations began almost as soon as Lawrence stepped off stage at the Samuel Goldwyn theatre in Beverly Hills. Drive's Albert Brooks, seen as a frontrunner for the best supporting actor gong, took to Twitter to berate the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences following his surprise omission from the nominations, writing: "And to the Academy: You don't like me. You really don't like me." He added: "Looking forward to the State of the Union tonight. Hope the new Axis of Evil includes Hollywood."

Meanwhile, Michael Fassbender's snub in the best actor category for Shame was flagged up by BBCFilm2012, and Tilda Swinton's best actress omission for We Need to Talk About Kevin also raised more than a few eyebrows. Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers tweeted: "Oscar snubs Albert Brooks/Drive. Ditto Fassbender for Shame, Shannon for Take Shelter & Swinton for Kevin. A new definition for ignorance."

Young Adult's Patton Oswalt was clearly hoping for a best supporting actor nod after picking up plaudits from critics in the run up to Tuesday's announcement. He tweeted: "Join me for a drink at The Drawing Room, @AlbertBrooks? Me and [Andy] Serkis have been here since 6am."

Twentieth Century Fox had mounted an expensive but ultimately fruitless campaign for Serkis to be rewarded with a best supporting actor nod for his motion-capture turn as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Another film that relied heavily on the technology was Tintin, which failed to pick up expected nominations for best animation and best visual effects.

"The visual effects branch didn't recognise it, because they thought it was animation, and the animation branch didn't recognise it because it was using performance capture and visual effects techniques," said Joe Letteri of New Zealand firm Weta Digital, which worked on the Steven Spielberg film. "That was a really big oversight."

But there were also positives. Moneyball's best supporting actor nominee Jonah Hill said his awards success had convinced him to shift his career emphasis from comic acting to more dramatic fare. "I came out in comedies when I was first introduced to people, and very few people, like Tom Hanks and Robin Williams, have been able to transition," he said. "To have this kind of recognition – it means I should do more dramas. I don't know if there could be a bigger sign."

Meanwhile, producers of multi-nominated films such as The Artist and Hugo were hoping to capitalise on their newfound renown with an expanded presence in cinemas. The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius's black and white tribute to the silent era, may benefit most from its 10 nominations since it has not yet played in a large number of cinemas. Surprise best film nominee, the post-9/11 drama Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and Alexander Payne's The Descendants may also improve their box office dramatically following worldwide exposure.

Martin Scorsese's 3D fantasy Hugo, which took the highest number of nominations (11), is also set to expand at US theatres. "I'm hoping that more people will perk up and discover the film," said producer Graham King. "We came out at a very competitive time, and I'm really hoping Hugo will grow again." Industry site Box Office Mojo signalled the potential for Oscar-nominated films to benefit from their newfound recognition when it tweeted: "Out of the nine Best Picture nominees, The Help is the only one that has so far made over $100m."