Keep an eye on 'True Grit' for the Oscars

The nominees for the Academy Awards won't be announced until Jan. 25. But if you want to know now which movies will be considered for the coveted best picture award, here's a hint.

The Producers Guild of America last week announced its list of 10 nominees for the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures - let's just call it "best picture" - and the guild's choices tend to mirror those of the academy. Last year, their lists differed on only two films: The guild favored the sports drama "Invictus" and the rebooted "Star Trek," while the academy included the Sandra Bullock vehicle "The Blind Side" and the Coen brothers' "A Serious Man."

Here is the guild's list for this year: "127 Hours," "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "Inception," "The Kids Are All Right," "The King's Speech," "The Social Network," "The Town," "Toy Story 3" and "True Grit."

The biggest surprise is the Western "True Grit," which despite its excellent pedigree (the Coen brothers, Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, all Oscar holders) has been ignored by the Golden Globes and both the New York and Los Angeles film critics groups. "True Grit" probably has a shot at the Oscars, although a Western hasn't been nominated for best picture since "Unforgiven" in 1993. Then again, it won.

The Producers Guild will announce its winner Jan. 22. Over the past 20 years, it has predicted the best picture Oscar all but seven times.