The Big Short award stokes Oscar hopes

Steve Carell (seated centre) and Ryan Gosling (far right) head The Big Short's ensemble cast

US financial crisis comedy The Big Short has won the top prize at the Producers Guild Awards.

The win will boost its Oscar chances, as the Producers Guild of America (PGA) has predicted the winner of the best picture Oscar for the past eight years.

Some bookmakers have already made Adam McKay's film favourite to be named best picture at next month's Academy Awards.

Inside Out and Amy picked up the PGA's prizes for best animated film and best documentary.

The Big Short's Oscar chances appeared to have dwindled after the film failed to be honoured in the best picture categories at both the Golden Globes and Critics' Choice awards.

Yet its unexpected triumph over such Oscar-tipped titles as Spotlight, The Martian and The Revenant has now turned it into an Oscar front-runner.

Bookmaker William Hill has seen a huge rush to back The Big Short for Oscar glory and has slashed its odds from 10/1 to 5/4 accordingly.

"We think this is the biggest move in 30-odd years of Oscar betting," said a William Hill spokesman.

Dede Gardner (left) accepted The Big Short's award with co-producer Jeremy Kleiner

Released in the UK this weekend, The Big Short sees Christian Bale, Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling play brokers who make millions betting that the US housing market will collapse.

The film is up for five Oscars in total, among them best director, best supporting actor (Bale) and best adapted screenplay.

Collecting the Darryl F Zanuck award for outstanding producer of theatrical motion pictures on Saturday, producer Dede Gardner made reference to the diversity row that has been the talk of Hollywood of late.

"Yes, we have a real problem. We do. We do," she told the audience at the Los Angeles ceremony.

"We have privilege in our hands. We are storytellers. We need to tell stories that reflect our world and our country."

Gardner was honoured alongside her co-producers Jeremy Kleiner and Brad Pitt. The latter, who also appears in the film, did not attend.

Fargo, Transparent and Game of Thrones were among the television programmes honoured at the event, held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles' Century City district.

Lady Gaga performed at the event, held in Los Angeles on Saturday

Entertainment was provided by Lady Gaga, who performed her Oscar-nominated song Til It Happens To You to an audience that included Ridley Scott, Gary Oldman and actress Amanda Seyfried.

Birdman, last year's recipient of the PGA's top prize, went on the win best picture at the 2015 Academy Awards.

A large number of the PGA's 7,000 members are also Oscar voters, prompting many to see its annual awards as a significant indicator of how the Oscar chips will fall.