“CODA” has been named the best produced film of 2021 at the Producers Guild Awards, throwing the Oscar race for Best Picture into complete turmoil only eight days before that show takes place on March 27.
The win comes at the only awards show besides the Oscars that uses ranked-choice or preferential voting in its best picture category, and it reinforced a feeling that the longtime Oscar favorite, “The Power of the Dog,” might be too divisive to win under a system that looks for a film with broad support.
Coupled with its SAG Awards win for ensemble, a category in which “The Power of the Dog” wasn’t even nominated, “CODA” now has to be considered a very strong Oscar contender and maybe even the new front runner, even though it is missing some of the nominations once thought necessary for a Best Picture winner.
The Oscars will now find PGA and SAG winner “CODA” facing off against Directors Guild, BAFTA and Critics Choice winner “The Power of the Dog” in a race that has suddenly become almost a tossup.
In other, less dramatic results, “Summer of Soul” won the award for documentary film, while “Encanto” won for animated feature.
The award for episodic drama went to “Succession,” while episodic comedy went to “Ted Lasso.” The limited series prize was won by “Mare of Easttown.”
Other TV awards were won by a pair of music-themed projects, “The Beatles: Get Back” and “Tom Petty: Somewhere You Feel Free,” the latter of which was the only nonfiction entry in the Streamed or Televised Motion Picture category. “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” won in other television categories.
A robust selection of honorary awards were kicked off with Steven Spielberg giving the Milestone Award to George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy. In his acceptance speech, Lucas said his proudest accomplishment was promoting digital cinema, and then teased Spielberg (and, in absentia, Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan) for continuing to prefer film.
Other honorary awards included the Visionary Award, which went to Issa Rae. Ryan Murphy presented the Norman Lear Achievement Award to Greg Berlanti. Rita Moreno received the Stanley Kramer Award and Mary Parent the David O. Selznick Achievement Award.
When it comes to predicting which film will win the Academy Award for Best Picture, the Producers Guild’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award is the single most important honor. It was the key award that showed that films like “The Hurt Locker,” “The King’s Speech” and “Green Book” had the broad appeal necessary to take the top Oscar.
In the 12 years since both bodies expanded from five to 10 best-pic nominees, the Producers Guild winner has gone on to win the Oscar all but three times – but with those three mismatches all taking place in the last six years, the PGA’s record of being a reliable Oscar predictor has slipped.
Here is the complete list of nominees. Winners are indicated with **WINNER.
Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
“Being the Ricardos”
“Belfast”
** WINNER “CODA”
“Don’t Look Up”
“Dune”
“King Richard”
“Licorice Pizza”
“The Power of the Dog”
“tick, tick…BOOM!”
“West Side Story”
Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures
** WINNER “Encanto”
“Luca”
“The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
“Raya and the Last Dragon”
“Sing 2”
Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures
“Ascension”
“The First Wave”
“Flee”
“In The Same Breath”
“The Rescue”
“Simple As Water”
** WINNER “Summer Of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”
“Writing With Fire”
Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Drama
“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Season 4)
“The Morning Show” (Season 2)
“Squid Game” (Season 1)
** WINNER “Succession” (Season 3)
“Yellowstone” (Season 4)
Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Comedy
“Cobra Kai” (Seasons 3 & 4)
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” (Season 11)
“Hacks” (Season 1)
“Only Murders in the Building” (Season 1)
** WINNER “Ted Lasso” (Season 2)
David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Limited or Anthology Series Television
“Dopesick”
* WINNER “Mare of Easttown”
“The Underground Railroad”
“WandaVision”
“The White Lotus”
Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures
“8-Bit Christmas”
“Come From Away”
“Oslo”
“Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia”
“Single All The Way”
** WINNER “Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of ‘Wildflowers’”
Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television
“60 Minutes” (Season 54)
“Allen v. Farrow” (Season 1)
** WINNER “The Beatles: Get Back” (Season 1)
“Queer Eye” (Season 6)
“Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” (Season 1)
Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment, Variety, Sketch, Standup & Talk Television
“The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” (Season 27)
“Dave Chappelle: The Closer”
** WINNER “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (Season 8)
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (Season 7)
“Saturday Night Live” (Season 47)
Outstanding Producer of Game & Competition Television
“America’s Got Talent” (Season 16)
“Nailed It!” (Seasons 5 & 6)
** WINNER “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (Season 13)
“Top Chef” (Season 18)
“The Voice” (Season 20)
Previously announced categories:
Outstanding Sports Program: “100 Foot Wave” (Season 1)
Outstanding Children’s Program: “Muppets Haunted Mansion” (Special)
Outstanding Short Form Program: “Carpool Karaoke: The Series” (Season 4)
PGA Innovation Award:“For All Mankind: Time Capsule”
