The Producers Guild of America Awards chose The Dark Knight among its Best Picture nominations. The Batman blockbuster has recently been among early Hollywood honors and expects to receive more at the Oscars next month.

The Curios Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett was also nominated as Best Picture. The movie, based on Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, tells the story of a man who ages in reverse. In addition, Ron Howard's Richard Nixon saga Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn's Harvey Milk film biography Milk and Danny Boyle's tale Slumdog Millionaire were also nominated for the same award.

Yet, the controversial Dark Knight lost the Best Picture nomination on Sunday’s Golden Globes and was overlooked for a cast nomination at the Screen Actors Guild awards. The movie has been the biggest blockbuster in 10 years of Hollywood’s history and one of the most acclaimed movies of 2008.

The Producers Guild Awards is a close match of the Best Picture nominees for the Academy Awards. The guild choices can offer a last-minute push for the Oscars, whose nominations will be chose on January 12 and announced on January 22.

The Best Animated Feature chose by the Producers Guild were Bolt, Kung Fu Panda and WALL-E. The nominations for Best Television Comedy, though hard to chose, were finally reduced to Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, The Office, 30 Rock and Weeds. The TV drama nominees: Boston Legal, Damages, Dexter, Lost and Mad Men.

The winners will be named on January 24 during a ceremony in Hollywood. Among other nominations, the Best Documentary is chased by Man on Wire, Standard Operating Procedure and Trouble the Water.