Thursday, January 2, 2014

Producers Guild of America (PGA) Award Nominations - Film, Animated Feature, and Long Form Television

Three categories were added to the slate for this year's PGA Awards, including the big two: Feature and Animated Feature. All of the majors ones going into this Oscar season have made the cut including American Hustle, Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, Captain Phillips, and Nebraska. Saving Mr. Banks finally gets some recognition, solidifying the fact that there really is support for it inside the industry. The Wolf of Wall Street also gets in, which is good for a film that has been seeing a lot of negative press lately.  But three films really got a needed boost today. After being reduced to basically Cate Blanchett's performance, Blue Jasmine gets a nice notice here. It is a great Woody Allen film, and could easily find its way into the Best Picture race, but it needs as many notices like this in such a competitive year. The inclusion of Her is fascinating. It is such a quirky movie, I didn't think the Producers would go for. But I have been looking for a good reason to add it to my prediction list, and now it look like it really is a contender, proving its strength outside of the critical circuit. Finally, I thought that the nomination for Dallas Buyers Club at SAG was a fluke. But its nomination here proves one thing: it is a force to be reckoned with. A SAG Ensemble and a PGA nod looks like a Best Picture nomination to me. So who are the losers today? After doing well at SAG, August: Osage County and Lee Daniel's The Butler missed the cut. I still think they are stronger contenders than people think due to the Weinstein factor, but if they keep missing in these guilds, outside of SAG, they may just not have enough support. Another big loser today was Fruitvale Station. After it was announced it was getting the Stanley Kramer Award, I thought that the PGA was going to give the same big boost it gave to Beasts of the Southern Wild last year. After being continually ignore, I think it is time to give up on its Oscar chances, which is a true shame. Finally, I did not think that Inside Llewyn Davis would hit it big with producers, although a lot of pundits apparently did. A Serious Man also missed the cut, but made it into Best Picture. There are enough people passionate about the film that it is still in this race. Although at the same time it proves my point that it is not that strong of a contender. In the Animated Feature category, the biggest snub is The Wind Rises, although the producers usually do pick more populist choices. The Miyazaki fans in the Academy will rally for the film, but I think that the frontrunner is Frozen, and do not discount Monsters University (the love Pixar), and surprisingly The Croods and Despicable Me 2, who have done well so far in terms of positive reviews, box office, and precursor awards.

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:
"American Hustle"
"Blue Jasmine"
"Captain Phillips"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Gravity"
"Her"
"Nebraska"
"Saving Mr. Banks"
"12 Years a Slave"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"
"Epic"
"Frozen"
"Monsters University"

David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television
"American Horror Story: Asylum"
"Behind the Candelabra"
"Killing Kennedy"
"Phil Spector"
"Top of the Lake"

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