Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Awards Update: PGA and WGA Release Nominations

The Producers Guild of America released its nominations this past week, and the news bodes well for any Dark Knight fans hoping for an Academy Award nomination.

The PGA nominees for the best films of the year are: Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, and yes, The Dark Knight. The reason this bodes well for Batman is because usually the road to Oscar gold runs through the Producers Guild Awards.

Want proof? Check out what the LA Times says: In their 19-year history, the PGA has called the Academy Award for Best Picture 12 times, including last year with No Country For Old Men. In fact they got four out of the five right with, Juno, Michael Clayton, and There Will Be Blood also among their picks.

While the PGA has only predicted 63% of the eventual Oscar winners, they have gotten 76% percent of the best picture contenders correct. The only year that the producers guild nominees did not include the eventual Oscar winner was in 1995 when Braveheart failed to make the cut, and Apollo 13 won the PGA's Golden Laurel.

Being snubbed by the Golden Globes may have hurt The Dark Knight's chances slightly, but now with a nomination from the PGA, Christopher Nolan's epic superhero film could find it's way into a Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

Even better news for the film is that its screenplay was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America. Along with The Dark Knight, the nominees are: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, and Slumdog Millionaire.

The nominees for Best Original Screenplay: Burn After Reading, Milk, Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Visitor, and The Wrestler. Nice to see the Joel and Ethan Coen's underrated comedy make the list. The film hadn't recieved too much buzz this awards season, but it is defiitely deserving of a nomination here.

Academy Award nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22nd.

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