"The Big Short" takes PGA

Adam McKay's The Big Short got a big boost in the Oscar race last night by winning big at the PGA. This is an important win for the film considering that this Best Picture race is more slippery than we've seen in the past few years. You have to go back almost a decade to Little Miss Sunshine to find a PGA winner that didn't align with Oscar (though Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave shared a tie with Gravity).

This win also poses another setback for Spotlight, which is really going to need to win that SAG Ensemble prize this coming Saturday to stay in the game. The Revenant, while it may still be rocking the box office, also missed an opportunity here to claim its post as frontrunner after its hefty nomination tally and Globes success. Any chances Mad Maxy: Fury Road had are probably now cooked, but George Miller is still viable as a Best Director winner, especially if he takes the DGA prize.

Inside Out and Amy gained more distance from their respective competition. Both won PGA's Animated and Documentary prizes and are unlikely to be deafeated on Oscar night. The big television winners were Transparent, Game of Thrones, and Fargo.

Surprises Abound for the PGA Nominations

Chris here. In addition to the Art Directors Guild earlier in the morning, today the Producers Guild of America announced their feature film nominations, and we have some surprises.

The omissions included Carol (take a breath, everyone) and Room, both also left out from the ADG nominations. We may be passionate fans of Carol around these parts, but the miss here is a sign that our pony still has to capitalize on its momentum to continue in the race. Room on the other hand is a tiny, non-American produced film that was probably overestimated to show up in a group that has leaned populist enough nominate the likes of Star Trek and Skyfall.

Speaking of blockbuster candidates, The Force Awakens also missed out here. While thought to potentially upset here, the franchise's Oscar hopes can now likely be put to bed for major categories. Here are our nominees:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Motion Picture

• The Big Short
• Bridge of Spies
• Brooklyn
• Ex Machina
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Sicario
• Spotlight
• Straight Outta Compton

The biggest surprises are Ex Machina and Sicario, also surprising at the ADG - are you sensing a trend? While they are not major Best Picture threats for the Oscar race, their place here shows passionate support brewing and certainly raises their profile. Straight Outta Compton, whose ensemble was recognized by SAG, is one of the bigger financial successes here and a nice nod to Universal's outstanding year at the box office.

Check after the jump for who got the biggest boost...

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PGA Documentary Nominations: Are They Actually Bad Luck for Oscar?

Precursor awards are like microwave popcorn. It takes a second for the bag to heat up and then things really start popping. Today the Producers Guild of America named their nominees for Theatrical Documentary Features. The Producers Guild Award winners will be presented on Saturday, January 23, 2016 in Los Angeles. 

Documentary Feature Nominees

• AMY (Reviewed, Top Box Office Doc Hits)
• THE HUNTING GROUND (Top Box Office Doc Hits) 
• THE LOOK OF SILENCE (Reviewed)
• MERU (Top Box Office Doc Hits)
• SOMETHING BETTER TO COME

The only one of these titles I hadn't personally heard of before today was Something Better to Come, a poverty-doc about children living on a gabarge dump in Moscow. More on what this list does and doesn't mean for Oscar after the jump...

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274 Days Until Nomination Morning!

WOOoooOOo Multiple Oscar Dates Announced!
Important dates for this forthcoming season.  I've included Off-Oscar business, too. So mark your calendars...

• Nov 14th, 2015 Governors Awards. (We don't know who will be honored yet but they generally make the announcement in late summer. They've already chosen two of the women on our top ten most deserving of honoraries list so hopefully we'll get a third this year!)
• Dec 30th, 2015 - Oscar Nomination Balloting Begins

• Jan 8th, 2016 - Oscar Nomination Ballots Due
• Jan 10th, 2016 - The 72nd Annual Golden Globes
• Jan 14th, 2016 - Nomination Morning. Merry Christmas! 
• Jan 23rd, 2016 - Producers Guild Awards
• Jan 30th, 2016 - SAG Awards

• Feb 8th, 2016 - Oscar Nominee Luncheon
• Feb 12th, 2016 - Voting Begins on Winners
• Feb 13th, 2016 - Sci/Tech Awards. Which beauty will host this year? It's usually a rising young actress. Margot Robbie did the honors (with Miles Teller) last year
• Feb 23rd, 2016  - Final Oscar Ballots Due

Your Weekly Reminder The Julianne Moore is an Oscar winner. She won 52 days ago!

The High Holy Nights
• Feb 28th, 2016 -88th Academy Awards. Predictions Ongoing Here.
Yes, I know I need to continue. We'll try to start again tomorrow!
• Feb 26th 2017 -89th Academy Awards. 
• Mar 4th 2018 - 90th Academy Awards. Ohmygod. Soon we're just a decade shy of Oscar's Centennial! They better pull out all the stops in 2028 and have every living Oscar winner there. Hopefully we'll all still be alive to see it!

Birdman Surprises at PGA. Is it a Three Way Best Picture Race?

The Film Experience has never loved the complacency of locked up Oscar races, so it is with great pleasure that I share the news (though you probably didn't miss it) that Birdman won the Producers Guild Award tonight. Do we have an actual race for Best Picture? Have you voted as to who should win yet?

This doesn't mean that Boyhood is in trouble, necessarily, but it's a fascinating curveball, especially given that Boyhood was such a feat of producing; Imagine bankrolling and shepherding a small scale but dozen yaer experiment when you had no idea how it would turn out or if it would work at all?!

As you know from my top ten list I do slightly prefer Birdman to Boyhood but let's forget about Oscar's unfortunate "side-taking" for a minute and face facts: either of those films would make thrilling, atypical and totally deserving Best Picture winners.

More...

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