Producers Guild Makes 1917 The Film To Beat For Best Picture (AWARDS 2019)

Jeff Huston
Producers Guild of America Awards

We officially have our Oscar frontrunner for Best Picture.

In the 30 years of the Producers Guild of America Awards, 21 of their winners have gone on to grab the Best Picture prize at the Academy Awards, including 8 of the last 10.

This year, director Sam Mendes‘ “one shot” World War I epic 1917 was named Best Film by the PGA, putting it on a likely track to win the Academy’s top honor as well.

No doubt it was the combination of a large-scale war movie production mixed with all of the challenges that come with “unedited” visual storytelling that put this one over the top for the voting body comprised of producing peers. Clearly they wanted to fete the producers of 1917 for pulling off such a monumental task (and risk).

Further underlining the PGA as an Oscar predictor: all of this year’s nine Best Picture nominees were also Producer nominees, suggesting the guilds and the Academy voters are very much in sync. The only PGA contender left out by the Academy was Knives Out.

If Mendes goes on to with the Directors Guild award (which will be announced this Saturday, January 25), then 1917 will jump from frontrunner to presumptive winner.

Still, 1917 has zero acting nominations and was snubbed for a Film Editing nomination as well. No movie has won Best Picture in the modern era of the “preferential ballot” without having nominations in any of those categories.

Toy Story 4 won the PGA’s Best Animated category, increasing its Oscar hopes, while Apollo 11 (an Academy snub!) won Best Documentary.

The winners were announced during the Producers Guild Awards ceremony on Saturday January 18, 2020.

Producers Guild of America
Darryl F. Zanuck Award 2019 Winners (and Nominees)

Best Film
Winner: 1917

Best Animated Film
Winner: Toy Story 4

Best Documentary Film
Winner: Apollo 11

2020 PGA Honorees

  • Milestone Award (recognizing an individual or team who has made historic contributions to the entertainment industry):
    • Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer of Netflix
  • David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Motion Pictures:
    • Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner – Plan B Entertainment
  • Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television:
    • Marta Kauffman, TV writer/producer (including Friends)
  • Visionary Award (recognizing unique or uplifting contributions to our culture through inspiring storytelling or performance):
    • Octavia Spencer
  • Stanley Kramer Award (an achievement or contribution that illuminates and raises public awareness of important social issues):

Click on links below for other Critics Group Awards and Guild Nominees that have been announced so far for the 2019 / 20 season:

Screen Actors Guild Award Winners
Academy Award Nominations
Critics’ Choice Awards Winners
Directors Guild of America Nominations
Writers Guild of America Nominations
Golden Globe Winners
National Society of Film Critics
Dallas/Fort-Worth Film Critics Association
Boston Society of Film Critics
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
AFI American Film Institute Awards
New York Film Critics Circle
National Board of Review
Atlanta Film Critics Circle

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