Oscar favourites La La Land, Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea were nominated by the Producers Guild of America for its top award on Tuesday. But the snarky, expletive-spewing superhero of Deadpool continued his unlikely awards season campaign.
The guild’s 10 nominees for its best picture honour, the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, also included Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures and Lion. It was a largely expected bunch plus the surprising inclusion of Deadpool.
But the R-rated X-Men spin-off has now run up a slew of nominations, proving the industry has considerable admiration for the comic-book hit. It last week landed a nomination for best adapted screenplay the Writers Guild, and it was twice nominated by the Golden Globes.
PGA nominees have historically been a good predictor for which films will receive Academy Award nominations for best picture. And for seven consecutive years up to last year, the PGA’s top prize matched (in one case with a tie) the academy’s top honour. Last year, however, the PGA chose The Big Short, while Spotlight won the Oscar. The Producers’ Guild uses the same preferential balloting system that the Academy of Motion Pictures employs.
The producers also nominated five films for best animated movie: Finding Dory, Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, The Secret Life of Pets and Zootopia.
Winner will be announced in a January 28 ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
