The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has announced its 2010 award nominees and Disney/Pixar’s Up is nominated for Best Picture (period), while also represented in the Animated Motion Picture category along with 9, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Princess and the Frog.

2009 has probably been the strongest year for animated feature films in terms of quality and the gaining of respect from the movie industry.  The PGA awards — which recognize the best film productions and producers — are often an indicator of which films will succeed at the Oscars.

The PGA Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year film award is a reliable bellwether for the Academy Award for best picture. Last year’s PGA winner, “Slumdog Millionaire,” went on to capture Oscar’s top prize. In fact, 13 PGA winners over the last two decades have gone on to win the Academy Award for best picture.

With so many great candidates in the animated category, it’s difficult to say which will come out on top.  Disney Pixar’s Up is gorgeous, hopeful and tugs at your heart strings.  9 goes against most tendencies with animation and ditches the blast of colorful images, instead opting for a dark post-apocalyptic tale — beautiful in its own right.  Coraline is an eery adventure which succeeds with a mixture of macabre and classic fairytale imagery.  Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox nails every single detail in it’s whimsical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book.  The Princess and the Frog breathes life into the stagnant Disney Princess while at the same time honoring its classics with good old fashioned hand-drawn storytelling. Certainly an exciting time for animation fans.

Which movie do you think deserves the PGA award and possibly an Oscar?  Do you think Up has a chance to walk away with “Best Picture?”

The 21st Annual PGA Awards takes place on January 24th at the Hollywood Palladium.

Source(s):
PGA Awards nominate ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Avatar’ for best picture [Gold Derby -- LA Times]