FIRST PUBLISHED: May 31, 2009 11:15 PM EDT
LAST UPDATED: May 31, 2009 11:21 PM EDT

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

The late Heath Ledger was awarded the best villain trophy at the MTV Movie Awards for his twisted turn as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.”

The honor was announced by MTV News correspondent Sway on the red carpet during an episode of the reality series “The Hills” before the Sunday ceremony was scheduled to begin.

Teenage vampire saga “Twilight” and game show drama “Slumdog Millionaire” were both up for six awards, including best movie and best kiss, at the Sunday award show honoring the best in film from the past year as voted on by viewers. Other best movie contenders are “The Dark Knight,” '‘Iron Man” and “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.”

Up for best kiss at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif., are the lip-locks of Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy in “Wanted”; Freida Pinto and Dev Patel in “Slumdog Millionaire”; James Franco and Sean Penn in “Milk”; Paul Rudd and Thomas Lennon in “I Love You, Man”; and Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron in “High School Musical 3.”

The ceremony will be hosted by Andy Samberg and feature musical performances from Kings of Leon and Eminem. The MTV Generation Award, the ceremony’s highest honor, will be presented to Ben Stiller. Two new categories are set to debut at this year’s show: best song from a movie and best WTF moment, which honors the most jaw-dropping movie moment of the year.

Other golden popcorn trophies will be awarded in such categories as best villain, best comedic performance and best fight. In addition to handing out awards for movies from the past year, MTV is promising to debut new footage from upcoming films “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” '‘New Moon” and “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” during the ceremony.

Presenters scheduled to hand out golden popcorn trophies Sunday include Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Denzel Washington, Cameron Diaz, Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock, Sienna Miller, Channing Tatum, Bradley Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Danny McBride, Will Ferrell, Leighton Meester, Jonah Hill and Lil Wayne.

Copyright 2009 by Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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