We’re nearly a month away from the 85th Academy Awards, and Oscar prognosticators now turn their attention to the various guild awards ceremonies that will be taking place over the next couple of weeks.  The guilds are a major bellwether for Oscar since the crossover between guild voters and Oscar voters is significant, and the Producers Guild Awards were handed out last night, making this already wide open race even more interesting.  Argo won the top prize at the ceremony, positioning the film as a serious Best Picture contender despite Ben Affleck’s lack of a Best Director nomination.  Hit the jump for the full list of winners and what this means for Argo’s Oscar chances.

argo-poster

Statistically speaking, an Oscar Best Director nomination is crucial to a film’s Best Picture chances.  The last film to win Best Picture without a Best Director nomination was 1989’s Driving Miss Daisy.  As we move closer to Oscar, experts seem to be taking two stances regarding Argo: they either think the film could pull out a Best Picture win because Affleck was left off the Best Director list, as a sort of compensation by the Academy to make up for the directors branch’s misatke, or they think Argo will follow in Apollo 13’s footsteps.  Apollo 13 won the PGA, DGA, and SAG awards in 1996, only to see Ron Howard left out of the Best Director Oscar nominations and to lose Best Picture to Braveheart.

Personally, I think Argo just might pull off the big win to close out this screwy and exciting Oscar race.  We’ll know more in the next few weeks as the Directors Guild Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards are handed out, but this is a big get for Argo.  Read the full list of PGA winners below.

Best Picture – ARGO 

Best Drama Series – HOMELAND 

Best Documentary Feature – SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN 

Best Reality Series – AMERICAN MASTERS 

Best Animated Feature – WRECK-IT RALPH 

Best Long-Form Television – GAME CHANGE 

Best Comedy Series – MODERN FAMILY 

Best Live Entertainment & Talk Show Television – THE COLBERT REPORT

Best Reality Competition Series – THE AMAZING RACE 

Best Sports Program – REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL 

Best Children’s Program – SESAME STREET 

Best Digital Series – 30 ROCK: THE WEBISODES

damien-lewis-james-bond
Image via Showtime