From left, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen and Dede Gardner pose in the press room with the award for best picture for “12 Years a Slave” poses in the press room at the 19th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards at the Barker Hangar on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014, in Santa Monica, Calif. AP
BEVERLY HILLS, California — For the past six years, every feature film chosen by the Producers Guild of America for its top honor has gone on to win the best-picture prize at the Academy Awards. Sunday night, “12 Years a Slave” and “Gravity” tied for the guild’s highest honor.
The rare PGA split keeps the Oscar race wide open in one of the tightest three-way battles in years, with “American Hustle” shut out by the producers but very much alive following a week of big showings at the Golden Globes, Oscar nominations and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Other trophies presented Sunday night at the guild’s 25th annual awards ceremony in Beverly Hills, Calif., included “Frozen” for animated feature and (asterisk)We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks” for documentary film.