The heavyweight indicator of likely best director Oscar nominees has been revealed as the two awards season frontrunners received Directors Guild Of America nods on Tuesday.

Revenant Martian

Alongside Alejandro G Inarritu for The Revenant and Ridley Scott for The Martian are Tom McCarthy for Spotlight, Adam McKay for The Big Short and George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road.

The DGA nominations are a highly reliable bellwether of who earns Academy Awards nods – those are announced on Thursday.

Inarritu won the DGA and the Oscar last year for Birdman and was nominated for Babel in 2007.

Scott has been nominated three times for the DGA for Thelma & Louise in 1992, Gladiator in 2001 and Black Hawk Down in 2002. He received Oscar nods for the same films and has never won either prize.

These are the first DGA nominations for McCarthy, McKay and Miller.

The 68th annual DGA Awards will take place in Los Angeles on February 6.