Well, the all important Producers Guild announced its ten feature nominees today, and boy is American Sniper coming on strong. The strongest late release of a Clint Eastwood movie since Letters From Iwo Jima I'd say. The big shock on the list is the absence of Selma, which has gotten totally skunked by the guilds so far. That's obviously not a good sign, but I still think it will get in at the Oscars (it's their kind of movie and the Academy was the only group to receive screeners), even if it manages a smaller than expected nominations haul.
Theatrical Feature
- American Sniper
- Birdman
- Boyhood
- Foxcatcher
- Gone Girl
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Imitation Game
- Nightcrawler
- The Theory of Everything
- Whiplash
Animated Feature
- Big Hero 6
- The Book of Life
- The Boxtrolls
- How to Train Your Dragon 2
- The Lego Movie
Documentary Feature
- The Green Prince
- Life Itself
- Merchants of Doubt
- Particle Fever
- Virunga
The winner of the PGA is normally your Best Picture winner, even if the nominees usually miss by 1-2 movies. This year I think what'll happen is that Selma replaces Foxcatcher, and Nightcrawler misses out. Yes, Nightcrawler has done extremely well with the guilds, but there's always one that does that ends up missing in the end, and it's always a genre movie, pulpier than what the Academy likes. That could either be Nightcrawler or Gone Girl this time, but I still think Gone Girl's box office haul of $160 million will be rewarded in the end. And Bradley Cooper for Sniper looks likely to be in there for Best Actor more and more every day, but I can't figure out who to toss from the lineup. David Oyelowo may be the weakest, but we'll see this Friday morning who's still looking good for acting nominations when the BAFTA list is revealed. On a sidenote, it's interesting that the PGA snubbed supposed doc frontrunner Citizenfour altogether- I'm really thinking Life Itself is going to be the one that takes the Oscar in that category.
