The nominations for theatrical and documentary screenplays have been announced for the 69th Writers Guild of America Awards, with 'Deadpool' leading as one of the strong contenders for Best Adapted Screenplay. Based on the 'X-Men' comic book series, the movie was a critically acclaimed smash last year.

DeadpoolDeadpool lands Writers Guild of America Award nomination

'Deadpool' has added yet another nomination to its growing list of recognition. While also being up for Best Motion Picture and with star Ryan Reynolds up for Best Performance by an Actor at the 2017 Golden Globes, the Marvel comedy is also nominated for two People's Choice Awards, a Jupiter Award and a Casting Society of America prize.

It's writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who have previously worked together on 2009's 'Zombieland' and 2013's 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation', who will be taking home the award should the movie win in its category. They are currently working on scripts for 'Zombieland 2', 'Deadpool 2' and have also been writing upcoming sci-fi film 'Life' starring Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson.

Other contenders for Best Adapted Screenplay include 'Arrival' (written by Eric Heisserer and based on Ted Chiang's 'Story of Your Life'), Fences (written by August Wilson from his play of the same name), 'Hidden Figures' (from Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi and based on Margot Lee Shetterly's book) and Nocturnal Animals (written by fashion designer Tom Ford and adapted from Austin Wright's novel 'Tony and Susan').

More: Read our review of 'Deadpool'

For Best Original Screenplay, nominations are Taylor Sheridan's 'Hell or High Water', Damien Chazelle's 'La La Land', Jeff Nichols' 'Loving', Kenneth Lonergan's 'Manchester By The Sea' and Barry Jenkins' 'Moonlight'. Meanwhile, 'Author: The JT LeRoy Story', 'Command and Control' and 'Zero Days' have been announced as the contenders for Best Documentary Screenplay.

'Deadpool 2' is expected to arrive in 2018, with David Leitch taken over Tim Miller as director.