Wonder Woman, I, Tonya storm Producers Guild nominations

One of the most powerful arms of the awards season machine has spoken, as the Producers Guild of America boosts the Oscar profiles of multiple female-fronted films amid one of the most unpredictable races in history.

An industry union comprised of roughly 7,500 members, the PGA revealed its annual roster of honorees Friday, furthering the steady momentum of films like Lady Bird, Call Me by Your Name, Dunkirk, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Get Out, The Big Sick, and The Post. The biggest developments, however, are the inclusion of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman and Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya, both of which now stand to cross over as legitimate contenders in the best picture race.

The Producers Guild has also made great strides in terms of gender inclusion with its 2018 nominations list, as seven of the 11 nominees are led by female characters, while two honorees — Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird and Jenkins’ Wonder Woman — are directed by women.

Since its inception in 1989, the PGA has remained one of the most reliable Oscar precursors on the awards season trail. Since 2009 (the same year the Academy shifted the number of best picture nominees to a sliding scale between five and 10), the PGA and the Academy have chosen the same best picture winner 75 percent of the time. Only two exceptions disrupt the pattern: 2015’s The Big Short and last year’s La La Land. Of the 29 films that have taken the PGA’s highest prize since 1989, 19 have followed up with the Academy’s top award.

Over the same period, the PGA has narrowly missed exactly matching AMPAS’ best picture nominees on three occasions: in 2010 The Blind Side and Invictus traded places in the jump from the PGA to the Academy, as did Winter’s Bone and The Town the year after. Last year, each of the nine Academy nominees for best picture also received a PGA nod, though the PGA-recognized Deadpool did not translate its precursor support into Oscar traction.

The explanation for the tight PGA-Oscar crossover is simple: shared membership and similar voting styles, as both the Academy and the PGA use the preferential ballot, though the Academy offers its voters five ranked slots to determine best picture nominees, while the PGA normally uses 10. This year, however, 11 films made the cut — with Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game also among the nominees — for the first time ever, owing to a tie.

While the critics groups gave much-needed publicity to films like Girls Trip and Phantom Thread, both of which are missing from the PGA’s lineup, the only essential Oscar portent remains the three-pronged guilds: the PGA, SAG, and the DGA — the last of which will announce its yearly set of nominees on Thursday.

The 2018 Producers Guild of America Awards will be announced via a Jan. 20 ceremony at Los Angeles’ Beverly Hilton Hotel. Check out the full list of nominees below.

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

“The Big Sick”
Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel

“Call Me By Your Name”
Producers: Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, Marco Morabito

“Dunkirk”
Producers: Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan

“Get Out”
Producers: Sean McKittrick & Edward H. Hamm, Jr., Jason Blum, Jordan Peele

“I, Tonya”
Producers: Bryan Unkeless, Steven Rogers, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley

“Lady Bird”
Producers: Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, Evelyn O’Neill

“Molly’s Game”
Producers: Mark Gordon, Amy Pascal, Matt Jackson

“The Post”
Producers: Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger

“The Shape Of Water”
Producers: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Producers: Graham Broadbent & Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh

“Wonder Woman”
Producers: Charles Roven & Richard Suckle, Zack Snyder & Deborah Snyder

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures (previously announced)

“Chasing Coral”
Producers: Jeff Orlowski, Larissa Rhodes

“City of Ghosts”
Producer: Matthew Heineman

“Cries from Syria”
Producers: Evgeny Afineevsky, Den Tolmor, Aaron I. Butler

“Earth: One Amazing Day”
Producer: Stephen McDonogh

“Jane”
*This film is still in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility this year.

“Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower”
*This film is still in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility this year.

“The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee”
Producers: Teddy Kunhardt, George Kunhardt

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama

“Big Little Lies” (Season 1)
“The Crown” (Season 2)
“Game of Thrones” (Season 7)
“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Season 1)
“Stranger Things” (Season 2)

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” (Season 9)
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Season 1)
“Master of None” (Season 2)
“Silicon Valley” (Season 4)
“Veep” (Season 6)

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television (encompasses both movies of the week and limited series)

“Black Mirror” (Season 4)
“Fargo” (Season 3)
“FEUD: Bette and Joan” (Season 1)
“Sherlock: The Lying Detective”
“The Wizard of Lies”

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television

“30 for 30” (Season 8)
“60 Minutes” (Season 50)
“Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” (Season 9, Season 10)
“Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath” (Season 1, Season 2)
“Spielberg”

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television

“Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” (Season 2)
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (Season 15)
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (Season 4)
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (Season 3)
“Saturday Night Live” (Season 43)

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television

“The Amazing Race” (Season 29)
“American Ninja Warrior” (Season 9)
“Lip Sync Battle” (Season 3)
“Top Chef” (Season 14)
“The Voice” (Season 12, Season 13)

The Award for Outstanding Short-Form Program

“Better Call Saul’s Los Pollos Hermanos Employee Training” (Season 1)
“Carpool Karaoke” (Season 1)
“Humans of New York: The Series” (Season 1)
“National Endowment for the Arts: United States of Arts” (Season 3)
“Viceland at the Women’s March” (Season 1)

The Award for Outstanding Sports Program

“All or Nothing: A Season with the Los Angeles Rams” (Season 2)
“Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers” (Season 12)
“Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” (Season 23)
“SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt” (Season 3)
“VICE World of Sports” (Season 2)

The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program

“Doc McStuffins” (Season 4)
“Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2017”
“School of Rock” (Season 3)
“Sesame Street” (Season 47)
“SpongeBob SquarePants” (Season 10, Season 11)