Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Handicapping the Oscar Race

The L.A. Times says the "Best Animated Feature" nominees will be Up and everybody else:

A lot will depend on what makes the official list, which will be revealed in mid-November. Deadline for entries is Nov. 2. Thereafter, a screening committee views submitted fare, grading the films with scores 10 (best) to 6 (poor). Movies with an average score of 7.5 or better are eligible for nomination.

The Times thinks Oscar dynamics are changing:

Animated films have been gaining esteem among Oscar voters in recent years. Until the early 1990s, none was ever nominated for best screenplay, but five animated movies pulled off screenplay bids since: "Wall-E" (2008), "Ratatouille" (2007), "The Incredibles" (2004), "Finding Nemo" (2003) and "Toy Story" (1995).

Since screenplay contenders often score noms for best picture too, it looks like an animated movie may cross over soon ....

Nominations are one thing. Actual awards are another. I don't see animated films winning any writing or Best Picture Oscars anytime before the turn of the next century. I just can't see actors voting for a movie with no actors in it. And I can't see writers giving the nod to a film not written under a WGA contract, no matter how good it is.

Maybe I'm too much of a cynic. I would really like to be wrong.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's great to see animation broadening in this way. While it might be hard to nominate an animator (seeing as how USUALLY many animators work on the same characters), sound, music, and sound editing seem to get nominated. Why not Best Production Design? Why not best editing (an enormous job in animation)? Some of the best production design in film has been done in animation. Films like Bambi, 101 Dalmations, Aladdin, Triplette's of Bellville, and Ratatouille should have not only been nominated, but should have WON the Oscar for best production design. I've not yet seen a live action film this year that had better production design than Up.

Anonymous said...

Once again you're suggesting specific Guild memebers nominate a non-guild artist/editor/etc.

Ain't gonna happen.

Anonymous said...

It's somewhat true, but more true that it's about the branches of the Academy. And they've been FAR more willing to bend and vote for quality over membership than guild members alone.

Anonymous said...

Only if it's a foreign film and then only in some categories.

I wonder what the stats are for a non WGA writer winning an Oscar is?

Anonymous said...

Good question, but plenty have been "nominated."

Anonymous said...

I'd be curious to see what the nomination percentage is as well since that is the writers Branch doing that. "Plenty" I suspect is not a very high percentage...

Unlike the Animated Feature category I don't believe that writers (or most of the other branches for that matter) need to prove they've viewed all or any of the films that are up for nomination.

Anonymous said...

Several of Pixar's films have been nominated for Best Screenplay, and they're not WGA.

Anonymous said...

After 5 weeks, Cloudy/Meatballs has almost passed $100 million. It's a cute kids film, along the lines of KungFoo Panda, but I bet Sony expected it to be doing better.

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