ANORA is Now the Front Runner For Best Picture at the Oscars with Wins from the PGA and the DGA

Anora Takes the Lead with PGA and DGA Wins

Anora has emerged as the front runner for Best Picture at the Academy Awards next month thanks to wins from the Producers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America.

Sean Baker won the DGA award for his work as director on the critically hailed masterpiece, Anora. This latest gem of Baker’s is now predicted to score big at the Oscars although SAG outcomes are still on the horizon which may help give a clearer picture as to how Anora will eventually fare at the Academy Awards. The Wild Robot took Best Animated Film honors from the Producers Guild which puts it in good shape to score the gold at next month’s Oscars ceremony.

This news of Baker’s win comes as a surprise because even though many critics declared Anora a better film than The Brutalist by a hair, The Brutalist scored the Golden Globe for its director, Brady Corbet, which suggested that Corbet’s film could sweep the guilds as well. It was the uniquely intelligent Anora that ultimately came out victorious after all.

Because of the use of AI in The Brutalist, some people may be less inclined to award it with their vote for Best Picture of 2024 even though it is, indeed, a remarkable film. Anora is Sean Baker’s brave and distinct vision and it feels a little more close to home with its Brooklyn setting than the larger-in-scope Brady Corbet film. Audiences have adored Anora almost straight across the board whereas a few general viewers have found The Brutalist challenging to sit through at three and a half hours in length.

As the past indicates that PGA and DGA wins will assure Oscar glory, there have been exceptions to the rule such as when Crash beat Brokeback Mountain and Shakespeare in Love beat Saving Private Ryan at the Academy Awards. Meanwhile, this whole season, the animated cat movie, Flow, has been nabbing best animated feature awards. Now, the PGA’s recognition of The Wild Robot for Best Animated Feature throws a potential wrench in Flow‘s attempts to sweep the majority of the prizes in its respective category this season.

Anora ranked quite high with viewers and could be deemed more watchable than The Brutalist. That could work in its favor at the Oscars. I wouldn’t count Anora star, Mikey Madison, out of the competition for Best Actress quite yet, either. Front runner Demi Moore’s film, The Substance, is quite gruesome in its final moments and Academy Award voters could find the film’s ending hard to get through given its ugliness. Moore is still wonderful, though, and Madison is phenomenal so whoever wins, let it be. Good luck to both Moore and Madison!

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