Los Angeles: Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight” was named among the nominees for the Producers Guild of America’s (PGA) annual awards show on Monday, regarded as a key staging post ahead of next month’s Oscars.

The caped crusader’s latest on-screen incarnation has been largely ignored by other awards shows in recent weeks but thrust itself back into contention by earning a nod for the PGA’s best picture award.

The producers awards will be announced in Los Angeles on 24 January, two days after the nominations for the Academy Awards are revealed in Beverly Hills. This year’s Oscars take place on 22 February.

The PGA’s 3,000 members include many Academy Awards voters, making it a key barometer for Oscars pundits. Last year’s PGA award winner, “No Country for Old Men,” eventually went on to win the Oscars’ coveted best picture award.

Other films nominated by the producers guild for its top prize on Monday included “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” David Fincher’s period love story starring Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse.

The field was completed by political drama “Frost/Nixon,” Gus Van Sant’s “Milk,” and British director Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire.”