With 10 nominations to date, Steven Spielberg came into today's Directors Guild of America (DGA) announcement as the most honored director in the guild's history. Well, make it 11, as the “Lincoln” director predictably made it one more with a notice for his $144 million-grossing (and climbing) epic.

Joining him on the list, and equally expected, were Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow for their dueling CIA thrillers “Argo” and “Zero Dark Thirty” respectively, while Ang Lee (“Life of Pi”) and Tom Hooper (“Les Misérables”) filled out the list.

Missing the cut were David O. Russell for “Silver Linings Playbook,” as well as Quentin Tarantino for “Django Unchained.” The latter only joined the guild this year, though that didn't stopped him from receiving DGA nominations for “Pulp Fiction” and “Inglourious Basterds” as a non-member in the past. His miss here could be reflective of the fact that many didn't see the film in time (screeners did not go to the guild, as I erroneously conveyed otherwise on last week's podcast).

This pretty much just tells us five of the six strongest contenders in the race (the sixth being “Silver Linings Playbook”), or in other words, nothing we don't already know. Do with it as you will for your Oscar predictions.

Check out the full list of feature nominees below. Documentary nominations will be announced January 14. The 65th annual DGA Awards will be held on February 2.

Ben Affleck, “Argo
Tom Hooper, “Les Misérables”
Ang Lee, “Life of Pi”
Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln”
Kathryn Bigelow, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Remember to keep up with all of the 2012-2013 film awards season's ups and downs via The Circuit.