Oscars: 'Inside Out' and 'Bear Story' Win the Animation Awards

Six years after their win for Up, Pete Docter (director) and Jonas Rivera (producer) take the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film home again, but this time for Inside Out.

2016 Oscars: The Animation Nominees

The nominees for the 88th Academy Awards are in! See which animated films (feature-length and short) got a nod from the Oscars after the break.

Oscars 2015: Disney Wins It All!

The 87th Academy Awards have revealed their winners in the animation categories. And as you probably guessed from the title of this post, the Oscar goes to…

Frozen Wins Two Oscars! Mr. Hublot and Gravity Also Take Home Awards

(L-R) Producer Peter del Vecho, and directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck,
accepting the Best Animated Feature Oscar on Sunday night.

It's been a big few days for Frozen: it's just became only the second animated film ever to pass a billion dollars at the worldwide box-office, and, immediately after that news, it won two Academy Awards at Sunday's Oscars! More below.

86th Annual Academy Awards Predictions

Oscar night is upon us once again, so it's time for me to start pretending I know what I'm talking about and venture my guesses as to what's going to take home tonight's big awards! The animation awards are listed first, then the rest of the categories below that.

A Plea for The Wind Rises to Win the Oscar

With the Oscars right around the corner, we are all being bogged down with promotional petitions and stunts on who should win Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and on and on. Some of these promotional petitions may be re-releases, special Q&A screenings, or even sing-along versions of the films. And while I'm sure most people regard the Oscars as the ultimate authority on what merits recognition in the world of motion pictures, there has been more than one occasion where the Oscar has been awarded to what can only be regarded as the most popular film of the year, rather than the best film in the category. Unfortunately, I fear this may be another such year where the film that merits the award for Best Animated Feature will be cast aside for the more popular film of the nominations.

Why I Stopped Caring About Award Shows

By now, you've already learned that Monsters University was not nominated in the Best Animated Feature category for the Academy Awards. And that the same thing happened for the Golden Globes. Judging by the reactions I saw on twitter among animation fans, I would say there's a very good chance you are angry about this. Well, I'm not. Because I stopped caring about award shows. It wasn't always like that; there was a time when I cared about the Oscars and the Golden Globes. That wasn't so long ago, but it's now a thing of the past. No, it's not a sad story.

The Wind Rises's Upcoming U.S. Release Stirs Up More Controversy

The Wind Rises will be opening in LA and New York City this weekend from the 8th through the 14th of November for an Oscar qualifying run. Though my review of the film, along with others, from the New York Film Festival, was incredibly positive, there's been some apprehension popping up regarding its US release.

Frozen, The Wind Rises, Monsters U and 16 More Submitted for Oscar Consideration

AMPAS have announced the 19 animated film that are in contention for a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the upcoming 86th Academy Awards. Among the contenders are the likely big-name frontrunners: Disney's upcoming Frozen, Miyazaki's final film, The Wind Rises, and Pixar's latest, Monsters University; there are also smaller scale films, like French animated pic, Ernest & Celestine (which won the Best Animated Film gong at the César Awards, the French equivalent to the Oscars, back in February). Check out the full list of films submitted for consideration below, complete with their Rotten Tomatoes score (current at the time of writing), where there is one.

Rich Moore Talks Wreck-It Ralph 2

Late in January, Rich Moore spoke to The Huffington Post about all things Wreck-It Ralph: the production of the film, his reaction to its Oscar nomination and a few more teases about the possible sequel.

Pixar Bits: Brave Oscar Celebration Video and New Jam-Packed Monsters University Poster

Fresh of the studio's seventh Best Animated Feature Oscar win on Sunday night, Pixar had a rather boisterous celebration today. Co-director Mark Andrews and producer Katherine Sarafian paraded the statuette around, celebrating with Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and what seemed to be the entire Pixar family! ABC7 News were present to record the proceedings and get a word or two from MAndrews.

Oscar Results: Brave and Paperman Win

Directors Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman accept their Oscar. ©A.M.P.A.S.

Yesterday was the night of the 85th annual Academy Awards. Hosted by an animator, it was a big night for animation - yet also a rather bittersweet one given the current turmoil in the animation and VFX industry, highlighted by a protest in Hollywood just prior to the ceremony.

85th Annual Academy Award Predictions [UPDATED: And Winners]

The biggest night of the year on the film calender is nigh; the 85th annual Academy Awards ceremony takes place tomorrow! Hosted by Seth MacFarlane and emanating from the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, this year's Oscars are close, very close. As such, it's time for me to let out my inner awards pundit and offer up A113Animation's predictions on what will be walking home with a golden statue at the end of the night.

Animation is a particularly close call this year; for months I was sure Laika's ParaNorman would take the prize, but the tide has turned, particularly after Disney's Wreck-It Ralph swept the Annies at the start of the month. Though Ralph is the best film of the five, it may well be Pixar's Brave that takes home the award, particularly after its swell of momentum at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs, and the Academy has always been fond of Pixar. Tim Burton's Frankenweenie had a lot of awards hype around it, but it doesn't seem to be a threat to Disney's other two offerings. It's great to see The Pirates! nominated, especially after getting so little recognition elsewhere, but it seems unlikely Aardman's latest will herald a second Oscar for them.

Short wise, it should be Disney's Paperman. Should be. But, personally, it seems more likely that Minkyu Lee's Adam and Dog will take the prize home, despite its lack of major advertising. Nonetheless, it's another close category. Life of Pi should and almost certainly will take home Best Visual Effects, a bittersweet win after Rhythm & Hues recently filed for bankruptcy.

On the live-action side, Argo seems a lock for Best Picture at this stage, and with the inexplicable omission of its helmer Ben Affleck from Best Director, the safe bet for that one is Spielberg. Most of the acting categories seem pretty sewn up (Daniel Day-Lewis is almost unbeatable at this stage, and a win will make him the only actor to ever win three Best Actor Oscars). Cinematography should be Claudio Miranda for Life of Pi - although Roger Deakins' work on Skyfall may well get the nod - and Best Original Song will definitely be Adele for "Skyfall". It's all really quite exciting!

Films we think should win are in bold, films we think will win are underlined; the winners will be highlighted in gold after the fact. No prediction indicates it's a category that I'm not knowledgeable about/haven't seen any of the nominees for.

Watch: Acclaimed Disney Short Film, Paperman

It's Oscar nominated, it's Annie nominated and now you can watch it online - John Kahrs' acclaimed animated short film, Paperman, which was released alongside Disney's latest feature, Wreck-It Ralph is now on YouTube (embedded above).

Huffington Post's Jim Hill exclusively unveiled the short, and it's a great show of faith by Disney in its fans to release the short in its entirety. Of course, more exposure can't hurt its Oscar chances either - particularly when it's got such strong competition, with films like The Longest Daycare and Adam and Dog.

Given that Wreck-It Ralph still isn't out here in the UK yet, this is the first time I've seen Paperman, and it really was worth the wait. The striking black-and-white look, the depth accomplished through the new, innovative technology, that delicately beautiful score and, most of all, the heart-warming story all make Paperman an absolute must-see - one that, fortunately, we can all now see.

Paperman debuts on the big screen in the UK with Wreck-It Ralph on 8th February.

Wreck-It Ralph Wins Producers Guild Award

Walt Disney Animation Studios' 52nd feature film, Wreck-It Ralph, is picking up a lot of steam heading into the Oscars next month. The retro-gaming homage, directed by The Simpsons' Rich Moore, took home the animation prize at yesterday's 24th Annual Producers Guild Awards, beating out Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman and Rise of the Guardians.

This is a very prestigious honour for Ralph to collect so close to the Oscars and in such a close competition, and it's noteworthy that it just beat out three of the four films it'll be squaring off against for the Academy Award in February (AMPAS nominated Aardman's The Pirates! instead of Guardians). The award was given to producer Clark Spencer.

Congrats to the Wreck-It Ralph crew on scooping such a major award and commiserations to the other talented teams.

The main prize however, The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures, went to Ben Affleck's awards favourite, Argo, beating out a lot of the same films it'll face at the Oscars. TV winners included Homeland and Modern Family.

Via The Hollywood Reporter.

Related posts: Oscars 2013: Munir's Best Animated Feature Predictions

Oscars 2013: Munir's Best Animated Feature Predictions

By Munir Abedrabbo.

With awards season in full swing, it’s always customary to start predicting the winners, and, while most predictions centre around the Best Picture category, the Best Animated Feature category is just as important for animation lovers. 2012 brought a strong slate of animated films and, more importantly, it was a year that was not dominated by CGI features – offering a nice variety of mediums to help audiences appreciate the diversity and beauty of animation. Most awards institutions have nominated more or less the same candidates, with the odd exception here or there (The Pirates! snubbed from the BAFTAs; ParaNorman replaced by Hotel Transylvania at the Golden Globes), but now that we have the five nominees for the Oscars, I think it’s time to evaluate each nominee’s pros, cons and chances of winning the prestigious award.

85th Annual Academy Award Nominations Revealed - And They're Exciting!

People are sure to complain about things (no Sam Mendes for Best Director? No Javier Bardem for Supporting Actor? No Dark Knight Rises at all?!), but there are certainly things to be happy about with today's Academy Award nominations: particularly so in animation!

The big news? The really bloody exciting news? After yesterday's very unexpected BAFTA snub, Aardman's fantastic film, The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists scooped a Best Animated Feature nomination! Massive congratulations to Pete Lord, Gideon Defoe, Jeff Newitt and everyone at Aardman for the nomination! BAFTAs-Shmaftas.

So It Has Begun: First Round of For Your Consideration Ads

Yes, it is that time of year again. It has its detractors, but I happen to think Awards season is pretty exciting! So, in a bid to get their films nominates for as many awards (well, mainly Oscars) as possible, studios have begun rolling out For Your Consideration ads - and we've got some cool animation ones so far.

10 Animated Shorts Make the Oscar Shortlist

Just last week we got the names of the animated shorts (and indeed features) submitted for Academy Award consideration, and today AMPAS have revealed the ten animated short films that have made it onto the Oscar short list. From these shorts - including last year's Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject winner, Adam and Dog, as well as Disney's Paperman and The Simpsons short The Longest Daycare - between three and five will progress to the final list of nominees.

The shortlist is as follows:

• "Adam and Dog," Minkyu Lee, director (Lodge Films)
• "Combustible," Katsuhiro Otomo, director (Sunrise Inc.)
• "Dripped," Léo Verrier, director (ChezEddy)
• "The Eagleman Stag," Mikey Please, director, and Benedict Please, music scores and sound design (Royal College of Art)
• "The Fall of the House of Usher," Raul Garcia, director, and Stephan Roelants, producer (Melusine Productions, R&R Communications Inc., Les Armateurs, The Big Farm)
• "Fresh Guacamole," PES, director (PES)
• "Head over Heels," Timothy Reckart, director, and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, producer (National Film and Television School)
• "Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”," David Silverman, director (Gracie Films)
• "Paperman," John Kahrs, director (Disney Animation Studios)
• "Tram," Michaela Pavlátová, director, and Ron Dyens, producer (Sacrebleu Productions)

I'm not even going to pretend I've seen all of these, but it'll be exciting to see which progress. Given all of its buzz and the mainstream audience it's getting with Wreck-It Ralph, Paperman seems set for a nomination; Adam and Dog seems likely too. And from a fanboy standpoint, it sure would be nice to see a Simpsons short get an Oscar nomination!

The 85th Academy Award nominations will be revealed on 10th January, 2013 and then the awards will be presented from the Dolby Theatre, at the Hollywood & Highland Centre, on 24th February. Until then, we'll keep you posted.

Via Cartoon Brew.

21 Animated Features Submitted for Oscar Consideration

Apologies for the mini-hiatus, guys, I've been in London watching Monsters, Inc. 3D (review up later)! But, it's back to business as usual, with this exciting news from Friday: the list of the 21 animated feature films that have been submitted to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for consideration for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature have been revealed.

Included among the running are likely favourites Brave, Wreck-It Ralph and ParaNorman. Check out the full list, with studios (where known), after the jump break - with links to trailers and reviews where appropriate: