Producers Guild goes for ‘Rings’

“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” took on the mantle of Oscar front-runner for best picture of 2003 on Saturday night as it won the highest honor for a film given by the Producers Guild of America.

Ten of the 14 previous winners of the Guild’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award for theatrical motion picture have gone on to win the best picture Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, making it a key indicator in the battle for filmdom’s highest prize. The Academy Awards ceremony is Feb. 29.

The third installment of director Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy, produced by Jackson, Barrie M. Osborne and Fran Walsh, has won several major critics awards this year, including best film from the New York film critics and a best director award for Jackson from Los Angeles critics.

The “Ring” trilogy is rapidly becoming one of the most successful works in film history with the first two installments bringing in about $1.8 billion worldwide and the third grossing almost $800 million since its Dec. 17 opening.

In other PGA awards, “Six Feet Under” was named best TV dramatic series, “Sex and the City” the best comedy series, “My House in Umbria” best TV movie or miniseries, and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” best reality or game show series.