With days to go before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents the much-awaited list of Oscar nominees on January 25, other organisations which honour the best and brightest of Hollywood are doing their bit to make speculations more intense.

The Producers Guild of America has announced contenders for its best picture award, to be presented on January 22. It is a hype-generating award, because the Guild's list is usually mirrored at the Oscars.

This year, it includes an unlikely choice: An out-of-shape crime fighter in bright spandex, trying to balance saving the world and family issues.

The Incredibles, Disney/Pixar's animated smash success, features on the Guild's list of five, which pundits are calling 'unconventional.'

It is competing against expected heavyweights like The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Sideways and Million Dollar Baby.

Meanwhile, the Directors Guild of America has nominated its set of five, and the winner will be named on January 29. The list includes Martin Scorsese for The Aviator, Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby, Marc Forster for Finding Neverland, Taylor Hackford for Ray and Alexander Payne for Sideways.