The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire earned Best Picture nominations from the Producers Guild of America, the group announced last week.

The PGA’s picks typically foreshadow the Oscar nominations, but the Guild has been known to nominate some unexpected films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001).

There were also some surprising snubs including Doubt, Gran Torino, The Reader, Revolutionary Road and The Wrestler, which have been largely successful and/or have received rave reviews.

Also, the animated feature, Wall-E, was expected to get a nomination for Best Picture, but received a nod for animated feature instead.

The PGA has predicted 12 of the Oscar’s eventual best picture winners for the past 19 years including last year’s, No Country for Old Men.

However, the previous three years, 2004-2006, the PGA winner failed at the Oscars. In 2004, the PGA picked The Aviator over Million Dollar Baby; in 2005 Brokeback Mountain won over the Oscar-winning Crash; and in 2006, PGA chose Little Miss Sunshine over The Departed.

The PGA has gotten 76 percent of the best picture nominees correct. Seventy-two of the PGA’s choices out of 95 were in the running for the prestigious best picture Oscar. Last year, PGA picked four out of the five nominees for best picture; Juno, Michael Clayton, There Will be Blood, and No Country for Old Men. Their fifth nominee, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly lost out to Atonement.

The only year the PGA’s nominees did not include the eventual Oscar winner was in 1995 when Braveheart won the Oscar but was not nominated by the PGA for Best Picture.

The PGA winners will be announced on January 24th.

—Jessica Delli Santi