Yesterday, the Producers Guild of America (or PGA) announced their nominations, which essentially are the clearest precursor to the Oscar Best Picture lineup that you can get in an awards season. There were surprising inclusions, shocking snubs, and more questions than answers, as you might imagine. In some ways, we’ve narrowed the contenders down to about 11 or so for the likely nine spots from the Academy, but the ones left off the PGA list still seem to be in play, especially in the case of one film in particular. All this makes for the Academy Award nominations to be as intrigue filled as ever this time around.
First up, here’s a refresher on which ten films the PGA nominated:
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
Gone Girl
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Nightcrawler
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
As you all know, the biggest snub was Selma. Aside from Boyhood and perhaps Birdman, no other Best Picture hopeful was considered a bigger lock for a citation here than this one. Those three, along with possibly The Imitation Game, are thought of as the only viable Academy Award winners in the Best Picture category, so it was a shock, to say the least. To be fair, screeners didn’t go out for this or the similarly snubbed Interstellar, so both products from Paramount definitely suffered in that realm, but shouldn’t a movie with as much buzz as Selma have gotten voters out to the theaters (with the same being said for Interstellar, which almost demands to be seen on a big screen) to see it before the deadline? They join the similarly snubbed Unbroken (which sent out screeners very late) are misses with perhaps some sort of an asterisk next to their names. Also missing the cut and basically ending hopes of a nod in the big category are Inherent Vice, Into the Woods, A Most Violent Year, Mr. Turner, and Wild. They can kiss a Best Picture nom goodbye, barring a miracle.
Now, give or take how you see things, we essentially have 11 (12 if you hold out hope for Interstellar to still sneak in) films vying for the probably nine spots in Best Picture at the Academy Awards. I’ll still cite the top ten, since the tenth slot does exist, however rare it might turn out to be. Furthermore, I’m going to separate the contenders now into a few groups. First up, the locks…
Birdman
Boyhood
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
These [...]
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