HONG KONG, Oct 19 (AP) -- Jackie Chan, Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng didn't get nominated for Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards -- the Chinese-speaking world's equivalent of the Oscars -- as some of the region's biggest stars failed to impress a panel of judges with an academic bent.

Chan -- a two-time best actor at the Golden Horses -- came up empty with his epic "The Myth," the story of a reincarnated ancient general who pursues his lost love from a previous life.

Two other movies that Chan invested in -- "House of Fury" and "Everlasting Regret" -- also weren't nominated for any awards.

The prolific Lau had four movies in competition -- "Yesterday Once More," "Wait 'Til You're Older," "A World Without Thieves" and "All About Love" -- but didn't notch any individual nominations.

However, "A World Without Thieves," the story of a swindler couple, bagged a best film nomination.

Lau's poor showing came a year after he won his first Golden Horse best actor award for the crime thriller "Infernal Affairs III."

Pop star Cheng didn't make an impression in her breakthrough role as a melancholy Shanghai beauty in "Everlasting Regret," which Chan helped produce.

The decision to shun the big stars may have to do with a panel of judges heavy on academics. Of the eight judges for feature films, three are current university teachers, one is a former university lecturer. Another judge does stage work.

But the judges haven't ignored mainstream commercial fare. The big winners in the nomination stage were Hong Kong director Johnny To's gangster film "Election" and the Hollywood-backed Stephen Chow comedy "Kung Fu Hustle." They had 11 and 10 nominations, respectively.

Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou is up for best new performer and best original film song for "Initial D," a movie based on a Japanese comic about street car races. The film notched four other nominations, including best supporting actor for Hong Kong's Anthony Wong.

Hong Kong director Tsui Hark's visually stunning kung fu epic "Seven Swords" was nominated for seven prizes, including best art direction and best cinematography.

Still, art-house movies are well represented. Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's "Three Times" has eight nominations, including best film, best director for Hou, best actor for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" star Chang Chen and best actress for Shu Qi. Chang and Shu play a couple in three different eras.

Chang also appears in Wong Kar-wai's installment in "Eros," which was nominated for best short. Chang plays an apprentice tailor who's guided to sexual enlightenment by a prostitute played by Gong Li.

Individual performances in some little-known art-house movies won critical acclaim.

Unheralded Chen Khen will contend for best actor for Yim Ho's "A West Lake Moment," a movie set in modern China about a young woman's two love affairs.

Likewise, unknown Chen Shiang-chyi is a best actress nominee for "The Wayward Cloud," another sexually explicit film by Taiwan's Tsai Ming-liang.

However, some nominees are surprising and offbeat.

Hong Kong pop star Miriam Yeung is another best actress candidate for "Drink, Drank, Drunk," a flat romantic comedy in which Yeung plays a beer promoter who invests in a restaurant with a chef whom she eventually falls for.

Aaron Kwok, one of the Hong Kong pop music's "Four Heavenly Kings" in the 1990s, got a nod for the crime thriller "Divergence," which generated little buzz. Kwok's music career has faded and he has never been known for his acting.

One trend that has emerged from this year's pictures is pooling resources -- both money and talent _ from across Greater China and abroad.

"Kung Fu Hustle" is a collaboration between Hong Kong comedian Chow, Beijing Film Studio and Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia Ltd. Among the investors in "A World Without Thieves" are Hong Kong star Lau's Focus Films Ltd. and China's Huayi Brothers & Taihe Film Investment Co. The movie stars Lau and Taiwanese actress Rene Liu.

The Golden Horse awards will be handed out Nov. 13 in the northern Taiwanese port of Keelung.