Producers Guild best picture nominees confirm top Oscar contenders

An awards season that has been thrown into confusion by the COVID-19 pandemic inched toward resolution Monday with the announcement of the Producers Guild of America nominations. The Producers Guild Awards are considered a reliable bellwether for eventual Oscar nominations and wins; since its inception, the PGA has predicted 21 of the past 31 winners of the best picture Oscar.

Though the widespread shutdown of movie theaters last year took a number of potential awards contenders out of the running, the PGA’s 10 best picture nominees span a wide range in terms of genre, scale and subject matter, including the comedy sequel “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and more intimate fare like director Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland,” which recently won the Golden Globe for best picture in the drama category, and Lee Isaac Chung’s portrait of a Korean immigrant family, “Minari.”

Among the best picture nominees, three were directed by women: “Nomadland,” Regina King’s “One Night in Miami ...” and Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman.” Coming in the wake of widespread criticism of the lack of Black-led films among the Globes nominees for best picture, the PGA nominations include four films featuring ensemble casts led by people of color, with “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” joining the aforementioned “One Night in Miami ...” and “Minari.”

The additional nominees in the theatrical motion picture category are “Mank,” “Sound of Metal” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”

Among the prominent films in the mix this awards season that failed to make the cut were director Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods,” the Anthony Hopkins drama “The Father” and one of the few major studio films vying for contention this year: director Paul Greengrass’ western, “News of the World,” released by Universal.

Not surprisingly given the closure of movie theaters, streaming companies made a strong showing in the nominations, with six of the 10 nominations going to films released by Netflix (“Ma Rainey,” “Mank,” “Trial”) and Amazon Studios (“Borat,” “Miami,” “Metal”).

The five contenders for animated theatrical film are “The Croods: A New Age,” “Onward,” “Over the Moon,” “Soul” and “Wolfwalkers.”

On the television side, newcomers “The Flight Attendant” and “Ted Lasso” will vie for comedy series against “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “What We Do in the Shadows” and the Emmy-winning final season of “Schitt’s Creek.” Among drama series, the first season of “Bridgerton” is up against veterans “Better Call Saul,” “The Crown,” “The Mandalorian” and “Ozark.”

Limited series contenders are “I May Destroy You,” “Normal People,” “The Queen’s Gambit,” “The Undoing” and “Unorthodox.”

The Producers Guild Awards will be handed out in a virtual ceremony on March 24, one month before the Academy Awards, which are set for April 25.

The full list of nominations is below:

Producer of theatrical motion pictures

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” Producers: Sacha Baron Cohen, Monica Levinson, Anthony Hines

“Judas and the Black Messiah” Producers: Charles D. King, Ryan Coogler, Shaka King

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” Producers: Denzel Washington, Todd Black

“Mank” Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski

“Minari” Producer: Christina Oh

“Nomadland” Producers: Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Chloé Zhao

“One Night in Miami...” Producers: Jess Wu Calder & Keith Calder, Jody Klein

“Promising Young Woman” Producers: Josey McNamara, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell

“Sound of Metal” Producers: Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Producers: Marc Platt, Stuart Besser

Producer of animated theatrical motion pictures

“The Croods: A New Age” Producer: Mark Swift

“Onward” Producer: Kori Rae

“Over the Moon” Producers: Gennie Rim, Peilin Chou

“Soul” Producer: Dana Murray

“Wolfwalkers” Producers: Paul Young, Nora Twomey, Tomm Moore, Stéphan Roelants

Producer of episodic television - drama

“Better Call Saul” (Season 5) Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“Bridgerton” (Season 1) Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“The Crown” (Season 4) Producers: Peter Morgan, Suzanne Mackie, Stephen Daldry, Andy Harries, Benjamin Caron, Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert Fox, Michael Casey, Andy Stebbing, Martin Harrison, Oona O’Beirn

“The Mandalorian” (Season 2) Producers: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson, Karen Gilchrist, John Bartnicki, Carrie Beck

“Ozark” (Season 3) Producers: Jason Bateman, Chris Mundy, Bill Dubuque, Mark Williams, Patrick Markey, John Shiban, Miki Johnson, Matthew Spiegel, Erin Mitchell, Martin Zimmerman, Peter Thorell

Producer of episodic television - comedy

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” (Season 10) Producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“The Flight Attendant” (Season 1) Producers: Greg Berlanti, Kaley Cuoco, Steve Yockey, Meredith Lavender, Marcie Ulin, Sarah Schechter, Suzanne McCormack, Jess Meyer, Raymond Quinlan, Jennifer Lence, Erika Kennair

“Schitt’s Creek” (Season 6) Producers: Eugene Levy, Daniel Levy, Andrew Barnsley, Fred Levy, David West Read, Ben Feigin, Michael Short, Kurt Smeaton, Kosta Orfanidis

“Ted Lasso” (Season 1) Producers: Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Jeff Ingold, Bill Wrubel, Liza Katzer, Jane Becker, Jamie Lee, Kip Kroeger, Brendan Hunt, Tina Pawlik, Joe Kelly

“What We Do in the Shadows” (Season 2) Producers: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Paul Simms, Scott Rudin, Garrett Basch, Eli Bush, Stefani Robinson, Sam Johnson, Marika Sawyer, Derek S. Rappaport

Producer of limited series television

“I May Destroy You” producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“Normal People” producers: Lenny Abrahamson, Sally Rooney, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Norton, Anna Ferguson, Catherine Magee

“The Queen’s Gambit” producers: William Horberg, Allan Scott, Scott Frank, Marcus Loges, Mick Aniceto

“The Undoing” producers: Susanne Bier, David E. Kelley, Per Saari, Nicole Kidman, Bruna Papandrea, Stephen Garrett, Celia Costas, Deb Dyer

“Unorthodox” producers: Anna Winger, Henning Kamm, Alexa Karolinksi

Producer of televised or streamed motion pictures

“Bad Education” producers: Fred Berger, Eddie Vaisman

“Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square” producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“Hamilton” producers: Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeffrey Seller

“Jane Goodall: The Hope” producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“What the Constitution Means to Me” producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

Producer of nonfiction television

“60 Minutes” (Season 53) producer: Bill Owens

“The Last Dance” (Season 1) producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“Laurel Canyon producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“McMillion$” (Season 1) producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

Producer of live entertainment and talk television

“8:46 - Dave Chappelle” (Special) producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” (Season 26) producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (Season 7) producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (Season 6) producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“Saturday Night Live” (Season 46) producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

Producer of game and competition television

“The Amazing Race” (Season 32) producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman, Elise Doganieri, Mark Vertullo, Phil Keoghan

“The Masked Singer” (Season 3, Season 4) producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“Nailed It!” (Season 4) producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” (Season 12) producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

“The Voice” (Season 18, Season 19) producers: *Eligibility Determination Pending*

Producer of documentary motion pictures

The PGA previously announced the nominations in this category on Feb. 2, 2021. The nominees are listed below, along with eligible producers’ names.

“David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet” producer: Jonnie Hughes

“Dick Johnson Is Dead” producer: Kirsten Johnson, Katy Chevigny, Marilyn Ness

“My Octopus Teacher” producer: Craig Foster

“Softie” producers: Toni Kamau, Sam Soko

“A Thousand Cuts” producers: Ramona S. Diaz, Leah Marino, Julie Goldman & Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn

“Time” producers: Lauren Domino, Kellen Quinn, Garrett Bradley

“The Truffle Hunters” producers: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw