With the Oscar nominations due to announce next Thursday, the mini-break for awards season has resurfaced with one of the big guilds making their announcement. Just now, the Producers Guild Awards have unveiled their ten nominees for Best Motion Picture with one particularly blockbuster gaining a crucial mention….

The James Bond-blockbuster Skyfall has been placed on the list alongside a group of worthy contenders who all take a step closer towards potential Best Picture nods. As expected, leading favourites Lincoln (directed by Steven Spielberg) and Zero Dark Thirty (directed by Kathryn Bigelow) are on there along with other solid challengers including Ben Affleck’s political-thriller Argo, Ang Lee’s fantasy adventure Life of Pi, Tom Hooper’s epic musical Les Miserables and David O. Russell’s gritty rom-com Silver Linings Playbook. The final three nominees are Behn Zeitlin’s indie-drama Beasts of the Southern Wild, the Quentin Tarantino western Django Unchained, and Wes Anderson’s quirky comedy Moonrise Kingdom.

However there was no place on the list for the likes of Amour, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Dark Knight Rises, The Impossible or The Master which leaves their Best Picture Oscar chances in disarray.

The overall ten nominees are:

• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Miserables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Skyfall
• Zero Dark Thirty

Meanwhile the Animated Motion Picture short-list has been revealed too with all five nominees being American-based. They are:

• Brave
• Frankenweenie
• ParaNorman
• Rise of the Guardians
• Wreck-It-Ralph

The 24th Annual Producers Guild Awards will announce their winners on January 26th.