The big guilds announce the film nominees, specifying the Oscar sector

By Jake Coyle Associated Press

NEW YORK – Hopefully some of last year’s biggest hits, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “No Time to Die,” may be in the running for the Best Picture Oscar on Thursday, when several of the Top Hollywood guilds have announced their film nominations.

Producers Guild nominations are considered one of the strongest predictors of which films are most likely to make the Academy Awards for Best Picture. Both the PGA Awards and the Film Academy use a privileged ballot to select 10 nominees and their choices often overlap.

The 10 films that are nominated for the top producer award, the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, are: “Being the Ricardos”, “Belfast”, “CODA”, “Don’t Look Up”, “Dune”, “King Richard, “Pizza with licorice”, “The power of the dog”, “tic, tic… BOOM!” and “West Side Story”.

Not every PGA nominee is always nominated for Best Picture, but in the last three years only one film (“The Father”, last year) entered the Oscars after losing the PGA.

Producers who have suggested films such as “The Dark Knight”, “Deadpool” and “Skyfall” are also more likely to suggest high-budget hits from the academy. Thus, the fact that the PGA overlooked “No Time To Die” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” – both of which are ports beyond Oscar hopes – suggests that their chances of winning an Oscar are slim.

While the producers nominated a number of higher-budget star films for “Dune” (which sold most of the company’s tickets) and “West Side Story”, five of the nominations came from streamers. Netflix has released “The Power of the Dog”, “Tick, Tick… ​​BOOM!” and “Do not look up.” Apple supported “CODA” and Amazon Prime Video released “Being the Ricardos”. Warner BROS. ‘ “Dune” and “King Richard” were also released simultaneously on HBO Max.

Later Thursday, the Directors Guild resumed their nominations. Nominees for the DGA Awards are: Paul Thomas Anderson (“Licorice Pizza”), Kenneth Branagh (“Belfast”), Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”), Steven Spielberg (“West Side Story”) and Denis Villeneuve (“Dune”).

These nominees not only give a snapshot of the most likely Oscar nominees for directing, but also suggest that these five films are favorites for a Best Picture nomination. Over the past decade, every film that is nominated for a DGA has won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Campion, the DGA nominee for “The Piano” from 1993, is only the second woman to be nominated twice for the guild’s top prize. It is Spielberg’s 12th nomination by the Directors Guild, not including the Lifetime Achievement Award given to him in 2000. He has won it three times in the past.

Four women were among the guild nominees for best first feature film. Nominations are: Maggie Gyllenhaal (“The Lost Daughter”), Rebecca Hall (“Passing”), Tatiana Huezo (“Prayers for the Stolen”), Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Tick, Tick… ​​BOOM!”), Michael Sarnoski (“Pig”) and Emma Seligman (“Shiva Baby”).

Voting for the Oscars began on Thursday, as union nominations began. This time could be that the guild awards could have a greater impact on this year, so far, largely virtual awards season due to the pandemic. It is also longer, with the Oscars scheduled for March 27th. Nominations for the 94th Oscars will be announced on February 8.

The Writers Guild turned to many of the same films for their nominations on Thursday.

For Best Original Screenplay at the WGA Awards are: “Being the Ricardos”, “Don’t Look Up”, “The French Dispatch”, “King Richard” and “Licorice Pizza”. The nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay are: “CODA”, “Dune”, “Nightmare Alley”, “Tick, Tick… ​​BOOM!” and “West Side Story”.

Some notable nominees were not eligible for the WGA Awards, including “Belfast”, “The Power of the Dog” and “The Lost Daughter”.

A full list of PGA Award nominees is available at: https://www.producersguild.org/. They will be delivered on March 19.