Oscar race takes new turn, Kong falls behind

Brokeback Mountain is a front runner.

LOS ANGELES - Two major film groups picked nominees for best productions and screenplays of 2005, including early Oscar favourite Brokeback Mountain, as the race for Hollywood awards entered a new phase today.

The Producers Guild of America, or PGA, comprised of movie and TV show makers, named its five best film productions of the year while the Writers Guild of America, or WGA, picked 10 nominees for screenplays.

Gay romance Brokeback cemented its position as an Oscar front-runner by making both lists in a follow-up to the seven Golden Globe nominations -- more than any other film -- it earned in December.

Making a comeback was race relations drama Crash, which also made both guilds' lists after a disappointing show at Golden Globe nominations.

Surprising no-shows on the two guild lists were director Steven Spielberg's Munich, Woody Allen's Match Point and Peter Jackson's King Kong.

Oscar watchers said Munich and King Kong were hurt by the fact that screeners -- DVDs sent to voters so they can watch movies at home -- were not mailed until just last week. So, guild voters had only a few days to watch them before voting.

Also working against King Kong going forward may be its less-than-spectacular box office performance (US$174.3 million since a December debut) over the recent holidays, said David Poland, a veteran Oscar at website Movie City News (www.moviecitynews.com).

"It has the taint -- no matter what the eventual (box office) numbers are -- of a loser, which is unfortunate but true," Poland said.

Along with Brokeback and Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, about newsman Edward R. Murrow's clash with Senator Joe McCarthy, Capote, about writer Truman Capote, and Walk the Line, about the romance between singers Johnny Cash and June Carter, will vie for the PGA's producer of the year honour.

Surprise

In one surprise, the WGA put hit comedy The 40 Year-Old Virgin, about a guy who is shy around girls, among its nominees for best original screenplay.

It was joined by Good Night, Crash Cinderella Man, about a Depression-era boxer's comeback, and The Squid and the Whale, about two boys dealing with their parents' break-up.

In the group for best adapted screenplay, the WGA nominated Brokeback, Capote, crime thriller A History of Violence, oil and politics drama Syriana, and another thriller, The Constant Gardener.

The Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America will name nominees for their awards tomorrow and combined, the four lists should help narrow contenders for Oscars, the US film industry's top honours given out in March by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

"The guilds have a lot of members who are also voting in the Academy Awards," said Poland.

He added that nominations help "create the conversation" in Hollywood about which movies rise above the others.

Also boosting their chances for Oscars on Wednesday were Capote, Good Night, History of Violence, Constant Gardener and romance Walk the Line, which have all scored well with critics, audiences and now the guilds.

- REUTERS