‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ Wins PGA Award for Best Picture

Momentum is back on Everything Everywhere All at Once’s side. The highest-grossing film in distributor A24’s history was honored with the Producers’ Guild of America’s award for best theatrical motion picture, a major indication of strength. The movie will head into the final week of Oscar campaigning as the clear front-runner. The PGA prize was shared by writer-director-producers Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, as well as their longtime collaborator Jonathan Wang.

The result is not much of a surprise after Everything Everywhere took home the top award with the directors’ guild last week, and offers evidence that this race has narrowed considerably, despite All Quiet on the Western Front—which was not even nominated by PGA—winning BAFTA’s best film award on Sunday. The producers’ guild tends to disproportionately favor bigger-budget hits—see them choosing 1917 over Parasite, La La Land over Moonlight, and so on—so Everything Everywhere winning over the likes of Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis is notable. Just last year, the micro-budgeted CODA pulled off a huge upset with PGA, a result that led to its Oscar triumph. Most years, this represents the make-or-break moment for blockbuster contenders.

The PGA uses a preferential balloting system to determine its winner, which is the most similar to the Academy’s method of tabulating votes for best picture. It’s why the likable CODA winning here over the more polarizing Power of the Dog was telling—or to go back a few years earlier, why Green Book’s PGA victory offered sufficient evidence that the industry liked it enough to take it all the way. Everything Everywhere has its detractors, but with a leading 11 Oscar nominations under its belt, should meet an even friendlier audience with the Academy, and it’s now proven it can win under a ranked system. If the cast takes the SAG ensemble prize tomorrow as expected, the film will be in a very strong position to win the top Oscar.

Underwhelming BAFTA showing aside—it lost every award but editing—Everything Everywhere has enjoyed a serendipitous awards journey since its SXSW premiere about a year ago. A hit with both critics and audiences, the movie has won best-picture honors from top indie-film groups (Gotham Awards), critics organizations (Los Angeles Film Critics Association), and now, several of the most influential industry guilds. Ke Huy Quan is the clear favorite to win best supporting actor, while Kwan and Scheinert are competitive in the directing and original screenplay categories, as is Michelle Yeoh in best actress.

If any other movie got a PGA boost, even without a win, it’d probably be Top Gun: Maverick. Tom Cruise was recognized with the guild’s David O. Selznick Achievement Award, its highest honor in film, and as at the Oscar nominees’ luncheon earlier this month, he completely stole the show.

Other film winners included Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio for animated film, the probable Oscar champ there, and BAFTA selection Navalny for documentary. On the TV side, The Bear scored its first major win with the comedy-series trophy, The White Lotus took home drama, and in a nice wrap to its awards run, Hulu’s The Dropout was named best limited series. Check out the full list of winners below.

Theatrical Motion Picture: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Episodic Television – Comedy: The Bear

Episodic Television – Drama: The White Lotus

Limited or Anthology Series Television: The Dropout

Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Game & Competition Television: Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls

Live Entertainment, Variety, Sketch, Standup & Talk Television: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

Non-Fiction Television: Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy

Documentary Motion Picture: Navalny

Animated Motion Picture: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio 

Innovation Award: Stay Alive, My Son

Short Form Program: Only Murders in the Building: One Killer Question (Season 2)

Children’s Program: Sesame Street

Sports Program: Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off 

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