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Producers Guild Awards Nominations Show Some Sci-Fi Love

by Ethan Anderton
January 5, 2010

Awards season is really heating up with nominations for all kinds of different awards appearing up every week. This week the Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced their nominations for the producing equivalent of Best Picture in feature films, animation and documentary. Unlike some other nominations, the PGA awards are usually a good indicator of what the Best Picture race for the Oscars will look like, and you might be surprised to see quite the science fiction presence on the lists this year. But let's not forget that The Dark Knight was nominated last year and then later snubbed at the Oscars. Check out the full list below!

Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award:
Avatar - James Cameron, Jon Landau
District 9 - Producers: Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson
An Education - Producers: Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
The Hurt Locker - Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
Inglourious Basterds - Producer: Lawrence Bender
Invictus - Producers: Clint Eastwood, Rob Lorenz, Lori McCreary , Mace Neufeld
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire - Producers: Lee Daniels, Gary Magness, Sarah Siegel-Magness
Star Trek - Producers: J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof
Up - Producer: Jonas Rivera
Up in the Air - Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Animation:
9 - Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
Coraline - Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
Fantastic Mr. Fox - Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
The Princess and the Frog - Producer: Peter Del Vecho
Up - Producer: Jonas Rivera

PGA Producer of the Year Award in Documentaries:
Burma VJ - Producer: Lise Lense-Moller
The Cove - Producers: Paula DuPre Pesman, Fisher Stevens
Sergio - Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.
Soundtrack for a Revolution - Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.

As you'll see science fiction got quite the awards boost this year as Avatar, District 9 and even Star Trek all received the PGA equivalent of the Best Picture nom. Of course with 10 nominees, it's anybody's game, but my bet is that the sci-fi presence will be reduced by at least one, and I'm sorry to say that Star Trek might be the one getting the boot. But anything could happen! It's also very interesting to note that Pixar's Up not only received a nomination in the animation category but also in the regular category as well. So it's a safe bet that Up will be the first animated film nominated for Best Picture since 1991's Beauty and the Beast.

As far as the rest of the noms, I'm pretty pleased with only one small quibble: the animation category. Despite a lack of critical and audience interest, I thought 9 was a spectacular animated film, and I'm happy to see it getting some awards recognition. However, I would just as soon toss out The Princess and the Frog to include Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Sure Disney was bold enough to return to 2-D animation, but they just didn't bring the magic that filled my childhood with films like The Lion King and Aladdin. On the other hand, Meatballs, made me feel like a kid again and had stunning visuals and a smart bit of humor.

Filed under Awards, Movie News, Opinions

From around the web:

http://www.iconocritic.com peloquin

I completely agree Alex, Princess and the Frog was really boring and I saw it with children who all really didn't like it. However, Cloudy had some of the best pop culture references and depth of field regarding 3d that I've ever seen in an animated film; not to mention a very interesting story. My vote's for 9 all the way though, I friggan loved every minute of that movie!
LINKFX

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was really awesome, great movie! Definitely should not be overlooked, I love Up, too...District 9 is a great stupendous film, although it's very surprising and even more awesome to see it gain some real official recognition. I would love to see it nominated for Best Picture. I really doubt Up will be nominated for Best Picture. They created a separate category for animated films, is it even eligible? Will someone who knows what they are talking about inform me?
http://www.firstshowing.net Ethan Anderton

LINKFX, A feature film being animated does not disqualify it from being nominated for the overall Best Picture category, hence why the PGA was able to nominate it in two separate categories. Beauty and the Beast was the first and only animated feature film to be nominated for Best Picture, and with 10 nominees coming this year and Up being one of the most critically praised and audience loved films of the year, I can pretty much guarantee that it will be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Hope that helps!
Robbie

Again, no Moon!
bob saget

i am with #4 whats the academys/guilds ignoring moon?
tobi,leader of the akatsuki

producer of the year. avatar or district 9 (brilliant) producer in animation .9 producer in documentaries the cove. thats what i think.
James

I have the opposite opinion about "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs." The humor was okay, but the juvenile jokes kinda outnumber the truly funny ones. The background and effects animation were fine, but the stylized character designs would have looked more appealing in hand-drawn animation. I will say Mr. T gave a funny performance. I probably won't care if "Cloudy" gets an Animated Feature nomination from the Academy (seeing how "Up" is the likely winner), just as long as it does not replace "The Princess and the Frog" (second only to "Up" as my favorite family film of 2009).
Jezza

This is how I saw this year's Oscar Race. I hope you like this summary Avatar: An epic bigger than Titanic with a plot simmilar to Dances with Wolves Up: Pretty much Beauty and the Beast (in terms of being an animated Best Picture nominee) The Blind Side: Erin Brokovich with a major character and sub plot simmilar to Forrest Gump Inglourious Basterds: The violence of Pulp Fiction set to the WW2 backdrop of Saving Prvate Ryan The Hurt Locker: Iraq war version of The Deer Hunter Up in the Air: Juno but in an airport An Education: Coming of age tale with a romantic element that recalls The English Patient. District 9: E.T in South Africa Precious: U.S version of Slumdog Millionaire A Serious Man: Black Comedy akin to Fargo.