Hopes that a few of last year's biggest box-office hits, âSpider-Man: No Way Homeâ and âNo Time to Die,â might join the best-picture Oscar race were dealt a blow on Thursday when several of Hollywood's top guilds announced their film nominations.
The Producers Guild nominations are considered one of the strongest predictors for what films are most likely to make the Academy Awards best-picture field. Both the PGA Awards and the film academy use a preferential voting ballot and choose 10 nominees, and their picks often closely overlap.
The 10 films up for the producers' top prize, the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, are: âBeing the Ricardos," âBelfast,â âCODA,â âDon't Look Up,â âDune,â âKing Richard,â âLicorice Pizza,â âThe Power of the Dog,â âtick, tick ... BOOM!â and âWest Side Story.â
Not every PGA nominee always makes it to a best picture nomination, but in the past three years only one film ("The Father," last year) joined the Oscar field after missing out with the PGA.
The producers, who have nominated films like âThe Dark Knight," âDeadpool" and âSkyfall,â are also more likely to nominate big-budget successes than the academy. So that the PGA overlooked âNo Time To Dieâ and âSpider-Man: No Way Homeâ â both of which harbor outside Oscar hopes â suggests their chances are slim at the Academy Awards.
While the producers nominated a number of starry, bigger-budget films in âDuneâ (which sold the most tickets of the bunch) and âWest Side Story,â five of the nominees came from streamers. Netflix released âThe Power of the Dog,â âTick, Tick... BOOM!â and âDon't Look Up.â Apple backed âCODA,â and Amazon Prime Video put out âBeing the Ricardos.â Warner Bros.' âDuneâ and âKing Richardâ were also released simultaneously on HBO Max.
Later Thursday, the Directors Guild followed up with their nominations. The nominees for the DGA Awards' top honor 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").
Those nominees not only give a snapshot of the most likely Oscar nominees for directing, but also suggest those five films are favorites for a best picture nomination. In the last decade, every DGA nominated film has scored a best-picture nod at the Academy Awards.
Campion, a DGA nominee for 1993's âThe Piano," is only the second woman to be nominated twice for the guild's top award. It's Spielberg's 12th nomination from the Directors Guild, not including the lifetime achievement award he was given in 2000. He's won three times before.
Four women were among the guild's nominees for best first feature for directing. The nominees are: Maggie Gyllenhaal (âThe Lost Daughterâ), Rebecca Hall (âPassingâ), Tatiana Huezo (âPrayers for the Stolenâ), Lin-Manuel Miranda (âTick, Tick ⊠BOOM!â), Michael Sarnoski (âPigâ) and Emma Seligman (âShiva Baby").
Voting for Oscar nominations began Thursday as the guild nominations were rolling in. That timing could be the guild awards could have a greater influence on this year's thus-far largely virtual awards season due the pandemic. It's also a lengthier one, with the Oscars set for March 27. Nominations for the 94th Academy Awards will be announced Feb. 8.
The Writers Guild turned to many of the same films in their nominations Thursday.
Up for best original screenplay at the WGA Awards are: âBeing the Ricardos,â âDon't Look Up,â âThe French Dispatch,â âKing Richardâ and âLicorice Pizza.â The nominees for best adapted screenplay are: âCODA,â âDune,â âNightmare Alley,â âTick, Tick ... BOOM!â and âWest Side Story.â
A handful of notable contenders weren't eligible for WGA Awards, including âBelfast,â âThe Power of the Dog" and âThe Lost Daughter.â