Disney has won the Best Animated Feature Oscar for the past four years – twice under Disney Animation Studios (“Frozen”, “Big Hero 6”) and twice with Pixar (“Brave”, “Inside Out”). This year, The Mouse House is behind THREE potential nominees. Two of them, “Zootopia” and “Finding Dory”, have been box office and critical juggernauts and are locks to garner nominations. “Moana” (opening in November) is a musical featuring songs from Lin Manuel-Miranda (aka Mr. “Hamilton”). It’s going to dominate Thanksgiving and pre-“Rogue One” ticket sales.
When “The Jungle Book” opened in April, it was brought-up that since the majority of the film is in animation (including the visuals and every character except Mowgli), that it should also be in the Animated Feature conversation. I don’t feel it deserves to be a nominee, though Academy rules may suggest otherwise when the qualification list is unveiled at the end of the year.
But let’s say, for argument’s sake, that “JB” isn’t qualified – but that “Zootopia”, “Dory” and “Moana” are ALL in the category. The Oscars tend to show some love for independent, little-seen and foreign animated films. So, let’s say, one of those (maybe “The Little Prince”, debuting soon on Netflix) is the fourth nominee. That leaves just ONE SPOT available. Who’s going to fill it? This will, undoubtably, be one of the Biggest Battles of Awards Season.
THE CONTENDERS
“Kubo and the Two Strings” – The Academy LOVES stop-motion. They’ve embraced Aardman (“Wallace & Gromit”, “The Pirates!”, “Shaun the Sheep”) and Laika (“Coraline”, “ParaNorman”, “The Boxtrolls”). “Kubo”, Laika’s latest, looks to be their most ambitious effort yet.
“Trolls” – DreamWorks Animation’s musical comedy based on the dolls opens in Nov. Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” could also secure a nod in the Original Song category.
“Kung Fu Panda 3” – The first two chapters were nominees, but DWA may spend more time campaigning for “Trolls” since “KFP3” came-out in January.
“The Secret Life of Pets” – The movie has the potential to be great – or simply silly. But Illumination also has…
“Sing” – …in December. This is an all-star animal singing competition comedy that may have some holiday momentum behind it for voters.
FURTHER BACK IN THE PACK
“The Angry Birds Movie” – Mixed reviews and not nearly as much box office revenue as expected – only $105M since May release – will hurt its chances.
“Ice Age: Collision Course” – Blue Sky hasn’t snagged a nomination since the original “IA” in ’03 (though “The Peanuts Movie” deserved one, and a WIN this past year).
“Storks” – Warner Bros. was rejected for “The LEGO Movie” two years ago. This could be funny – but so far the trailers are too ordinary.
THE WILD CARD
“Sausage Party” – If it works, The Academy might go for this talking food adult comedy, which Seth Rogen is promoting it as the first, “real” R-rated animated movie, which, of course, isn’t true. The stop-motion romance “Anomalisa” was one of this past Awards Season’s nominees.
With a larger, more competitive field than ever this year, and the good chance that this will become an annual occurance, let me be the first to propose that The Oscars follow suit with Best Picture category and expand Best Animated Feature to a range of 5-10 nominees. After a small backlash in the first year, this policy has certainly worked with the live action, and I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t work for the animated competition. And considering each year animated films are some of the most popular and profitable movies Hollywood produces, this would be a nice way to honor the genre’s success.