Awards Season - Looking Up for the PGA

January 6, 2010

The Producers Guild of America announced their nominations this week, and while there are only three categories for theatrical releases, they tend to be quite accurate predictors for the Oscar nominations. This is great news for Up, which picked up nominations in two of the three categories.

The categories and nominations are...

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURE

• Avatar
• District 9
• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Invictus
• Precious
• Star Trek
• Up
• Up in the Air

• 9
• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• The Princess and the Frog
• Up

• Burma VJ
• The Cove
• Sergio
• Soundtrack for a Revolution

• Up was the only film on this list to earn more than one nomination. This very likely means it is the heavy favorite to win for Animated Theatrical Motion Picture, but despite earning the best reviews for any wide release for the year, it will likely not take home the top prize.
• If I were to pick a favorite for the top prize it would be Up in the Air or The Hurt Locker, in that order. They have both performed marvelously so far this year.
• This is the first major nomination for Star Trek, but it probably won't be the last. At the very least, it should pick up an Oscar nod or two for technical categories, if not some of the more prestigious awards.
• The only surprise in the Animated Theatrical Motion Picture category was 9. I would have thought Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs would pick up a nomination, or even Monsters vs. Aliens would get the nomination before 9. After all, while 9 is a visually wonderful film, its overall reviews were not up to the level one would expect for an award-worthy film.
• On the other hand, the Documentary category was full of surprises and only The Cove can be seen as a conventional pick. Granted, all four films that did earn nominations are on the Oscar shortlist this year, but there were a number of high profile films that were snubbed, including Food, Inc., Good Hair, and even Capitalism: A Love Story, while I was hoping Anvil! The Story of Anvil would sneak in and grab a nod.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Awards Season, Up, Star Trek, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, Coraline, 9, The Hurt Locker, The Cove, Burma VJ, An Education, Up in the Air, Precious (Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire), Invictus, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Avatar, The Princess and the Frog