Helen Hunt was named best actress in a romantic comedy

"Whoever wins this award, should probably have all their late fees waived," Sandra Bullock said onstage after accepting her award.

She added: "And if that same person, lost a video and they can't find it, that should be waived, too."

The Blockbuster Awards is traditionally a more relaxed ceremony than the previous month's Oscar festival, but it still manages to draw the stars.

World artist

Warren Beatty was honoured with the World Artist Award.

Benjamin Bratt took home a Blockbuster plaque for favourite supporting actor in a comedy for Miss Congeniality and Nicolas Cage was named favourite actor in a romantic comedy in The Family Man.

Ricky Martin won for best male artist

Asked backstage how his award compared to his girlfriend Julia Roberts' Oscar, Bratt joked: "This is going at the top of the trophy case I'm going to build for her. Yeah, right. Just push that golden boy aside."

Later, he added: "Any time you win anything for something you love doing, it's a bonus. Every day I wake up and have a job, I thank god because I could be driving a bus."

Beatty told the audience at the Shrine Auditorium: "You are good for the movie business."

Kate Hudson, who starred in Almost Famous, won the award for best female newcomer.

The awards recognise film performances by genre, such as action, horror and sci-fi and there are also awards recognising music and computer games.

In all, more than 50 awards were handed out on the night.