AGENCIES
Woody and the gang will vie for the Oscar in a crowded field that includes sister company Disney’s ‘Frozen 2’ and DWA’s acclaimed ‘The Hidden World.’
With Pixar’s Toy Story 4 opening to critical success while breaking the record for the biggest global opening for an animated movie with $238 million, the toon-world can anticipate what might be the most competitive Oscar animation race in years.
While it’s only June, it’s no surprise that numerous insiders already expect that nominations will likely go to Toy Story 4 as well as Dreamworks Animation’s ‘How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World’, which opened in March to critical and box office success with the emotional final chapter of Hiccup’s coming-of-age story. And many also find it hard to imagine that Disney’s wildly anticipated Frozen 2, the sequel to Disney’s Oscar-winning 2014 juggernaut, which opens Thanksgiving weekend, won’t be a strong candidate.
Assuming those three movies are likely to advance, that leaves two more nominations up for grabs in a crowded field of contenders.
Additionally, there’s a potential variable in the blurring of the lines between live action and animation, which in particular has generated discussion around Jon Favreau’s ‘The Lion King’ for Disney. This was made using virtual production techniques with the result being a CG movie; it may not be viewed as an animated movie in the traditional sense, though it would qualify for consideration under the Motion Picture Academy’s definition of an animated feature. The question is, will Disney enter it in the category, and while the studio has not made an official statement, many believe the answer will be ‘no.’ The studio has not been positioning the movie as animation — and it did not enter its 2016-hit ‘The Jungle Book’, which was also a virtual production that was largely CG, in that race.
BOX
- Toy Story 4 did huge business this weekend with ticket sales surpassing $118 million in North America, though fell well short of the studio’s $140+ million expectations
- The performance is, however, the best of the franchise, topping Toy Story 3’s $110.3 million opening in 2010 and fourth largest animated opening ever
- Toy Story 4 is some of the best reviews of the franchise to go along with an ‘A’ CinemaScore from opening day audiences
