Producers Awards key to Oscars sentiment

LOS ANGELES - Reuters

‘Les Miserables,’ starring Anne Hathaway, earns PGA nomination.

Steven Spielberg’s presidential drama “Lincoln,” musical “Les Miserables” and Kathyrn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden thriller “Zero Dark Thirty” were among 10 films earning Producers Guild Award nominations on Jan. 2, as the Hollywood awards season gathered momentum.

Ben Affleck and George Clooney, two of the producers behind Affleck’s Iran hostage drama “Argo,” and the team that brought Quentin Tarantino’s darkly humorous slavery Western “Django Unchained” to the screen also won nods for the awards handed out by the Producers Guild of America.

Big boost to ‘Skyfall’

The critically acclaimed James Bond blockbuster “Skyfall” got a big boost to its Oscar hopes when producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson were included.

They joined an eclectic list that featured Ang Lee’s shipwreck tale “Life of Pi,” and quirky comedy “Silver Linings Playbook.”

Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom,” and mythical indie film “Beasts of the Southern Wild” rounded out the feature film nominations. The Producers Guild Awards will be handed on Jan. 26 and will be a key indication of Hollywood sentiment ahead of the Oscars. Many of the PGA-nominated movies are expected to feature strongly on the list of Oscar nominations.