‘Slumdog’ takes producers award

Just two days after earning 10 Academy Award nominations, “Slumdog Millionaire” on Saturday won the Producers Guild of America’s Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award. The award went to producer Christian Colson.

The film, which revolves around the fortunes of an impoverished Mumbai teenager, has become this movie season’s darling, winning multiple Golden Globes and critic’s awards. “Slumdog” went into wide release in the U.S. on Friday and has earned more than $48 million so far domestically.

“Slumdog” won out over “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “The Dark Knight,” “Frost/Nixon” and “Milk.” The PGA award has also come to be viewed as a reliable bellwether for the best-picture Oscar -- 12 of the winners over the last 19 years have gone on to win the Academy’s top honor, including last year’s recipient, “No Country for Old Men.”

Other PGA award winners announced during the ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium:

* For Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures: Jim Morris, “Wall-E”

* For Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures: Simon Chinn, “Man on Wire”

* For Long-Form Television: David Coatsworth, Frank Doelger, Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks and Steven Shareshian, “John Adams”

* For Television-Drama: Matthew Weiner, Scott Hornbacher, “Mad Men”

* For Television-Comedy: Lorne Michaels, Tina Fey, Marci Klein, Robert Carlock, Jeff Richmond, Jerry Kupfer and David Miner, “30 Rock.”

* For Non-Fiction Television: Jeff Fager, “60 Minutes”

* For Live Entertainment and Competition Television: Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Allison Silverman, Richard Dahm, Meredith Bennett and Tom Purcell, “The Colbert Report”

The PGA also honored Brian Grazer and Ron Howard with the Milestone Award; Michael Douglas received the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures; and David Chase earned the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television.

The Stanley Kramer Award went to “Milk”.

MySpace founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe received the Vanguard Award, and producer Jeff Skoll was honored with the Visionary Award.

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susan.king@latimes.com