Animation dominates awards season
Golden Globes expand animation category, Up for Best Picture Oscar
Following the recent announcement that the Academy Awards intend to expand the amount of nominees in the Best Animated Feature category from three to five, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association are reporting that the Golden Globes intend on following suit.
The amended rules state that films eligible for the category must be feature-length, seventy or more minutes in length, and have no more than one quarter running time. However, if less than eight films are submitted in this category or not enough are deemed legible, the award will not be given. Instead, the submitted animations would be eligible for the Best Picture award instead.
The Academy Award’s expansion stemmed from having over twenty films submitted for its Best Feature category. In an unprecedented year for strong animation features the fore-runners for the awards, both the Oscar and the Golden Globes, include Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ponyo and Up.
At the same time, exceptional reviews have seen Disney purchase the front cover of the trade paper Variety to promote its film Up in several Award season categories. The Pixar feature is the centre of a campaign for both Best Animated Feature and, in a bold move, Best Picture. As the category for best feature has also expanded, to host ten nominees, it would be little to no surprise if Up became the first animated film to be nominated in the Best Picture category since Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
The Golden Globes, which are set for January 17th, are to be hosted by Ricky Gervais and generally act as an indicator of the general cinematic trends in Hollywood often producing the same winners as the Oscars.
