Producers Guild warms up to Deadpool

Ryan Reynolds, People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 2010, stars as the titular superhero in Deadpool. PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX-MARVEL

NEW YORK • Deadpool, a huge hit at the box office but not so much among prize-givers, was among the Producers Guild Award nominees announced on Tuesday. The list of 10 also included La La Land, Manchester By The Sea and Moonlight, three films that have been pulling in top honours all awards season.

The other contenders for the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, the producers' equivalent of Best Picture, are: Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell Or High Water, Hidden Figures and Lion.

The guild also revealed its animation nominees: Finding Dory, Kubo And The Two Strings, Moana, The Secret Life Of Pets and Zootopia, which won the Golden Globe on Sunday. It had previously announced its documentary nominees: Dancer; The Eagle Huntress; Life, Animated; O.J.: Made In America and Tower. All except Dancer are on the shortlist for the Oscar for Best Documentary (Feature).

The guild has a strong track record of picking a feature winner that goes on to take the Best Picture Oscar. That was the case from 2007 through 2014, more or less. In 2013, there was a tie, but one of the guild's winners, 12 Years A Slave, won the Oscar. Last year, though, the producers crowned The Big Short, while Spotlight nabbed the Oscar.

So if you are hoping the guild will provide insight into the Oscars, you might want to wait until its winners are clear. The awards ceremony will be held on Jan 28. The next night will be the Screen Actors Guild Awards (nominees were announced last month). Then on Feb 4, there is the Directors Guild, which will reveal its nominees later this week.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 12, 2017, with the headline Producers Guild warms up to Deadpool. Subscribe