“The Big Short” wins with the Producers Guild: the new Oscar frontrunner?

Folks, we have a new frontrunner in Best Picture. Over the weekend, the 27th annual Producers Guild Awards were given out and The Big Short pulled the upset, taking the illustrious Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures. The Producers Guild of America (or PGA) are the best guild when it comes to forecasting Oscar, so the odds now favor the Academy Awards citing The Big Short in Picture, as opposed to Spotlight, the previous frontrunner. It’s a bit of a surprise, but perhaps one we should have seen coming, frankly. The more you think about it, the more sense it makes.

Basically, if you go by PGA history, the winner here is what wins with Oscar. You can make the case even that not only has The Big Short now locked this up, but Amy has done the same in Best Documentary Feature and Inside Out in Best Animated Feature as well. Best Picture is where it really matters though, so if you’re trying to figure out the Academy Awards, the smart play is to predict The Big Short now. If it picks up the Screen Actors Guild award for Best Ensemble (beating Spotlight once again in the process), that will 100% wrap it up. We’ll see what happens there, but if you don’t have this one as your number one in Best Picture now, you’re ignoring statistics, plain and simple.

Here now are all of the winners (with nominees included) from the 27th annual Producers Guild Awards…

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

*The Big Short*
Producers – Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner WINNER

Bridge of Spies
Producers – Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt, Kristie Macosko Krieger

Brooklyn
Producers – Finola Dwyer & Amanda Posey

Ex Machina
Producers – Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich

Mad Max: Fury Road
Producers – Doug Mitchell & George Miller

The Martian
Producers – Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer, Mark Huffam

The Revenant
Producers – Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon

Sicario
Producers – Basil Iwanyk, Edward L. McDonnell, Molly Smith

Spotlight
Producers – Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagon Faust

Straight Outta Compton
Producers – Ice Cube, Matt Alvarez, F. Gary Gray, Dr. Dre, Scott Bernstein

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

Anomalisa
Producers – Rosa Tran, Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman

The Good Dinosaur
Producer – Denise Ream

*Inside Out*
Producer – Jonas Rivera WINNER

Minions
Producers – Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy

The Peanuts Movie
Producers – Craig Schulz, Michael J. Travers

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:

*The Long-Form Television category encompasses both movies of the week and mini-series.

American Crime (Season 1)
This show is in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility

American Horror Story: Hotel (Season 5)
Producers – Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy, Brad Buecker, Tim Minear, Jennifer Salt, James Wong, Alexis Martin Woodall, Robert M. Williams Jr.

*Fargo (Season 2)*
Producers – Noah Hawley, John Cameron, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Warren Littlefield, Kim Todd WINNER

True Detective (Season 2)
Producers – Nic Pizzolatto, Scott Stephens, Steve Golin, Aida Rodgers

A Very Murray Christmas
This show is in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility

The Award for Outstanding Sports Program:

Back on Board: Greg Louganis
E:60
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Houston Texans
Kareem: Minority of One
*Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel* WINNER

The Award for Outstanding Digital Series:

30 for 30 Shorts
*Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee* WINNER
Epic Rap Battles of History
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Double Agent
This American Life Presents: Videos 4 U

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:

*Amy*
Producer – James Gay-Rees WINNER

The Hunting Ground
Producer – Amy Ziering

The Look of Silence
Producer – Signe Byrge Sørensen

Meru
Producers – Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin

Something Better to Come
Producers – Sigrid Dyekjær, Hanna Polak

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

Better Call Saul (Season 1)
Producers – Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Melissa Bernstein, Mark Johnson, Stewart A. Lyons, Thomas Schnauz, Gennifer Hutchison, Nina Jack, Diane Mercer, Bob Odenkirk

*Game of Thrones (Season 5)*
Producers – David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, Carolyn Strauss, Bryan Cogman, Lisa McAtackney, Chris Newman, Greg Spence WINNER

Homeland (Season 4)
Producers – Alex Gansa, Alexander Cary, Lesli Linka Glatter, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Meredith Stiehm, Patrick Harbinson, Michael Klick, Claire Danes, Lauren White

House of Cards (Season 3)
Producers – Beau Willimon, Dana Brunetti, John David Coles, Josh Donen, David Fincher, Eric Roth, Kevin Spacey, John Mankiewicz, Robert Zotnowski, Karen Moore

Mad Men (Season 7B)
Producers – Matthew Weiner, Scott Hornbacher, Janet Leahy, Semi Chellas, Erin Levy, Jon Hamm, Blake McCormick, Tom Smuts

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

Inside Amy Schumer (Season 3)
This show is in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility.

Modern Family (Season 6)
Producers – Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Jeff Morton, Jeffrey Richman, Brad Walsh, Danny Zuker, Vali Chandrasekaran, Megan Ganz, Elaine Ko, Kenny Schwartz, Chuck Tatham, Rick Wiener, Chris Smirnoff, Sally Young

Silicon Valley (Season 2)
Producers – Mike Judge, Alec Berg, Jim Kleverweis, Clay Tarver, Dan O’Keefe, Michael Rotenberg, Tom Lassally

*Transparent (Season 1)*
Producers – Jill Soloway, Andrea Sperling, Victor Hsu, Nisha Ganatra, Rick Rosenthal, Bridget Bedard WINNER

Veep (Season 4)
Producers – Armando Iannucci, Chris Addison, Simon Blackwell, Christopher Godsick, Stephanie Laing, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Frank Rich, Tony Roche, Kevin Cecil, Roger Drew, Sean Gray, Ian Martin, Georgia Pritchett, David Quantick, Andy Riley, Will Smith, Bill Hill

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television:

30 for 30 (Season 6)
Producers – Connor Schell, John Dahl, Bill Simmons, Erin Leyden, Andrew Billman, Marquis Daisy, Libby Geist

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (Season 3)
Producers – Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandra Zweig

*The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (Season 1)*
Producers – Marc Smerling, Andrew Jarecki, Jason Blum WINNER

Shark Tank (Season 6)
Producers – Mark Burnett, Clay Newbill, Yun Lingner, Max Swedlow, Jim Roush, Brandon Wallace, Becky Blitz, Laura Roush, Shaun Polakow, Phil Gurin

Vice (Season 3)
Producers – BJ Levin, Bill Maher, Eddy Moretti, Shane Smith, Jonah Kaplan, Tim Clancy, Ben Anderson, Shawn Killebrew

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television:

The Amazing Race (Seasons 25 and 26)
Producers – Jerry Bruckheimer, Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman, Elise Doganieri, Mark Vertullo

Dancing with the Stars (Seasons 19 and 20)
Producers – Rob Wade, Ashley Edens-Shaffer, Joe Sungkur

Project Runway (Season 13)
Producers – Jonathan Murray, Sara Rea, Desiree Gruber, Jane Cha, Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, Teri Weideman

Top Chef (Season 12)
Producers – Daniel Cutforth, Tom Colicchio, Chaz Gray, Casey Kriley, Padma Lakshmi, Jane Lipsitz, Doneen Arquines, Erica Ross

*The Voice (Seasons 7 and 8)*
Producers – Audrey Morrissey, Mark Burnett, John de Mol, Marc Jansen, Lee Metzger, Chad Hines, Jim Roush, Kyra Thompson, Mike Yurchuk, Amanda Zucker, Carson Daly WINNER

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television:

The Colbert Report (Season 11)
Producers – Stephen T. Colbert, Tom Purcell, Jon Stewart, Meredith Bennett, Barry Julien, Emily Lazar, Tanya Michnevich Bracco, Paul Dinello, Matt Lappin

Key & Peele (Season 4)
This show is in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility.

*Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Season 2)*
Producers – Tim Carvell, John Oliver, Liz Stanton WINNER

Real Time with Bill Maher (Season 13)
Producers – Bill Maher, Scott Carter, Sheila Griffiths, Marc Gurvitz, Billy Martin, Dean E. Johnsen, Matt Wood

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Season 2)
Producers – Lorne Michaels, Jamie Granet Bederman, Katie Hockmeyer, Jim Juvonen, Brian McDonald, Josh Lieb, Gavin Purcell

The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program:

Doc McStuffins
The Fairly OddParents
Octonauts
*Sesame Street* WINNER
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Toy Story That Time Forgot

-Stay tuned to see if The Big Short can stay the frontrunner until Oscar night!

Out of all the above mentioned movies, I enjoyed "Martian" and "The Big Short" the most.

In TV series, Fargo is definitely worth a watch.

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and I love "Shark Tank" as well :)

The Big Short was a great movie, with a great cast, and they were all amazing in it, However, even with this win, The Revenant is still the frontrunner. And it will more than likely win everything it's nominated for at the Oscars.