The Coen brothers' thriller No Country For Old Men scooped four Oscars, including the coveted best picture.

The film also won best director for Joel and Ethan Coen, best supporting actor for Javier Bardem and best adapted screenplay.

Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton and There Will Be Blood had also been nominated for the best picture prize.

The Coen brothers went head-to-head with Julian Schnabel, Jason Reitman, Tony Gilroy and Paul Thomas Anderson for the best director gong.

"This is pretty amazing, it's a great honor for me to have this," a delighted Bardem said in his acceptance speech.

Bardem, 38, becomes the first performer from Spain to scoop an acting Oscar.

Javier Bardem: "This is pretty amazing, it's a great honor for me to have this."

No Country For Old Men, a violent tale about a hunter who stumbles across the gory aftermath of a drugs deal, was the bookmakers’ favourite to land best picture.

It cost around $2.5m to produce and has generated nearly $62m at the US box office.

Daniel Day-Lewis, who has joint British-Irish citizenship, was crowned best actor for his awesome performance in oil drama There Will Be Blood.

France's Marion Cotillard took home the best actress accolade for her role as Edith Piaf in biopic La Vie En Rose.

"Well, I'm speechless now. Thank you, life; thank you, love; and it is true there are some angels in this city," said Cotillard.

Britain’s Tilda Swinton won the best supporting actress prize for her role as a scheming corporate legal chief in drama Michael Clayton.

Swinton fought off strong competition from Cate Blanchett, Ruby Dee, Saoirse Ronan and Amy Ryan to land the prize.

Ratatouille was victorious in the best animated feature film category and The Counterfeiters (Austria) was named best foreign language film.

In other awards, comedy Juno was named best original screenplay and Taxi to the Dark Side was crowned best documentary feature.

This year's ceremony, held at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, was hosted by comedian Jon Stewart.

No Country for Old Men is now expected to enjoy a bumper period at the global box office.

According to box office forecasters, the Oscar glow of a best picture win should add at least $20m to the film’s total earnings.

Titanic, the highest-grossing movie ever made, saw its box office takings jump by $187.5m after winning 11 Oscars in 1998.

The article Coens' No Country For Old Men dominates Oscars originally appeared on 999 Today