Stephen Lang, Sam Worthington in Avatar (Mark Fellman / 20th Century Fox) (top); Gabourey Sidibe, Paula Patton in Precious (Anne Marie Fox / Lionsgate) (middle); George Clooney in Up in the Air (Dale Robinette / Paramount) (bottom)

James Cameron's Avatar, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, and Neill Blomkamp's sleeper hit District 9 are three science-fiction films included in the Producers Guild of America's list of nominees for best narrative feature of 2009. Two other major box-office hits were included in the list as well, Pete Docter's animated Up and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, in addition to a couple of smaller but successful productions, Lee Daniels' Precious and Jason Reitman's Up in the Air.

Also included were critics' favorite The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Lone Scherfig's British drama An Education, and, somewhat surprisingly, Clint Eastwood's box-office disappointment Invictus, in which Morgan Freeman plays Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon a South African rugby player.

Missing from the list are two high-profile year-end releases, Rob Marshall's all-star musical Nine and Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, though Jackson did get in as one of the District 9 producers. Also missing are Marc Webb's (500) Days of Summer, three successful female-centered productions — John Lee Hancock's The Blind Side, Nora Ephron's Julie & Julia, Nancy Meyers' It's Complicated — and well-received smaller films that failed to make a box-office and/or year-end awards splash, such as Amreeka, A Serious Man, A Single Man, The Last Station, and Crazy Heart.

In the best animated feature category, Up is joined by 9, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Princess and the Frog. Missing from this list is Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Only four documentaries made the cut — Burma VJ, The Cove, Sergio, and Soundtrack for a Revolution — whereas the longform television category has six nominees: Georgia O'Keeffe, Grey Gardens, Little Dorrit, Prayers for Bobby, The Prisoner, and Taking Chance. Missing from the documentary list are Agnes Varda's The Beaches of Agnes, Sacha Gervasi's Anvil! The Story of Anvil, and Robert Kenner's Food, Inc.

And finally, John Lasseter will be honored with the David O. Selznick Award, while Precious has already been named the recipient of the Stanley Kramer Award.

The PGA will announce its winners on Jan. 24.

PGA 2010 Nominations

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE

Avatar
Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau

District 9
Producers: Carolynne Cunningham, Peter Jackson

An Education
Producers: Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey

The Hurt Locker
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.

Inglourious Basterds
Producer: Lawrence Bender

Invictus
Producers: Clint Eastwood, Rob Lorenz, Lori McCreary , Mace Neufeld

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Producers: Lee Daniels, Gary Magness, Sarah Siegel-Magness

Star Trek
Producers: J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof

Up
Producer: Jonas Rivera

Up In The Air
Producer(s): Awaiting final credit determination.