LOS ANGELES, March 2-- Alfonso Cuaron's 3D space thriller "Gravity" has become the top prize winner at the 86th Academy Awards, taking seven of the total 24 prizes.

The lost-in-space film won the Best Director award for Alfonso Cuaron and managed a stranglehold on the technical categories, including Film Editing, Original Score, Sound Editing and Mixing and Visual Effects.

Cuaron personally won two Oscars for "Gravity," one for Best Director while Best Film Editing was shared with co-editor Mark Sanger.

One of the film's strongest competitors, "12 Years a Slave," won Best Picture along with Best Supporting Actress for starlet Lupita Nyong'o, and also took a statuette for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Another seemingly strong rival, "American Hustle," went empty-handed after tying with "Gravity" for the most nominations. Both films were nominated in 10 categories, followed by "12 Years a Slave" with nine.

The Best Actor and Actress gongs for leading roles went to Matthew McConaughey and Cate Blanchett. McConaughey stars as a hard-drinking homophobe in "Dallas Buyers Club," while Blanchett depicted a mentally-troubled woman in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine."

McConaughey's co-star, Jared Leto, was named Best Supporting Actor for his role as an HIV-positive transgender woman.

Disney's "Frozen" won Best Animated Film, and also Best Original Song for Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for "Let It Go." The prize gave Robert Lopez a rare "EGOT," meaning he has won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.

"The Great Beauty," the story of an aging author and socialite reflecting on his life, became the 11th film from Italy to win an Oscar for best foreign-language film.

The Oscars were held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, with Ellen DeGeneres hosting the televised ceremony, which was watched by millions around the world.