Birdman took a big stride towards the Oscar on Saturday night (January 23) as it upset Boyhood to claim best feature at the 26th annual Producers Guild Awards, capping another triumphant night for Fox Searchlight.

Victory in the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures category marked the latest success in a memorable sequence for the specialty studio.

In the last two weeks Alejandro Iñárritu’s dark comedy has tied with stablemate The Grand Budapest Hotel on nine Oscar nominations, claimed the Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy or musical award for Michael Keaton and garnered 10 BAFTA nominations.

The two other Producers Guild Of America feature awards went to films spurned by the Academy.  

Life Itself, chronicling the life of the late critic Roger Ebert, earned top honours in the documentary category while The LEGO Movie won for best animated feature.

In the television section, Fargo won the long-form award, Breaking Bad the episodic television drama prize and Orange Is The New Black the episodic television comedy award.