The Revenant, Spotlight, Big Short score Directors Guild nominat

In an awards season lacking a clear front-runner, the only films to win the top nominations from producer, actor and director guilds are “Spotlight” and “The Big Short“. The 52-year-old Mexican filmmaker won the Golden Globe on Sunday night for his direction, and he is in contention for a BAFTA.

The nominations are a big deal for McCarthy, McKay, and Miller, who are all receiving their first nominations.

The nominations are the first for McCarthy, McKay and Miller.

A DGA nod is also good news for the best-picture chances of the five nominees.

Scott, 78, earned his fourth DGA Award nomination for the box office blockbuster “The Martian“.

Scott has also been nominated three times, for 1991’s “Thelma & Louise”, 2000’s “Gladiator” and 2001’s “Black Hawk Down“. The British director won the National Review Board of Motion Pictures award for director, was in contention for a Golden Globe and is vying for the BAFTA.

The guild also announced a new category, Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director.

A D.G.A. nomination, coming from peers within the industry, is an obvious honor on its own, but as with everything else this time of year, a nomination comes with larger Oscar implications.

But that’s not always the case, as Variety points out: “Recent DGA-nominated directors who failed to score a nomination from the Academy’s directors branch include Clint Eastwood (American Sniper), Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips) and, notoriously, Ben Affleck (Argo) and Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)”.

The victor will be announced February 6 at the DGA Awards, hosted by Jane Lynch at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.