The Academy has spoken . . . (and so have I).

The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards were announced earlier this morning in Beverly Hills, California.

There are some surprises, but overall they're fairly predictable. Cars 2 has no chance of seeing any Oscar glory, without a nomination in the Animated Feature category. I'm not very surprised by this, since Pixar really broke its streak with that picture. However, Pixar can redeem itself with Enrico Casarosa's short La Luna, which has a nomination in the Animated Shorts category. From what I've heard of this elusive short, it is a stunning shoe-in for the prize.

Surprisingly, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots both got a nomination, but Tintin didn't, perhaps as a result of the impassioned debates surrounding motion capture's place among the world of animation. I was very glad that Tintin won the Golden Globe for Animated Feature--it tells a great story with eye-catching visuals, and really shows what the future of mo-cap holds.

My biggest beef this year is with Hugo. It has the most nominations at 11. It is beautifully nostalgic with stunning visuals, but the story of Selznick's original The Invention of Hugo Cabret is sucked dry by Scorsese's ignorance of character depth. The film is pretty to look at, but it does not tell a compelling story. Scorsese won the Golden Globe for Directing, and I think it is egregious. I did not like the film one bit, if you couldn't tell.

However, I am ecstatic about the attention that The Artist is getting. It is a true film--a crowning achievement of the modern filmmaking world. It is funny, emotional, and musical with great acting and set pieces that you can't help but get lost in...all without a spoken word.

Another thing I'm ecstatic about? The Muppets' "Man or Muppet" not only being nominated for Best Original Song, but also being a surefire winner in the sparse category. It is a bang-up song from the most outstanding film of last year.

Below, find the full list of nominations. My predictions for who will win are in red, but who I want to win is in bold. I didn't make predictions in every category, since I don't even pretend to be qualified to do that. There's also the occasional commentary on my selections. You'll notice a lot of things are bolded and red. This is just because I, perhaps naively, think that the Academy will be just this year. Enjoy . . .

Best Picture
"The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
"The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
"The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
"Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
"Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
"Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
"The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
"War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
George Clooney in "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
--
Not a great film, but Plummer was fantastic.
--

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis in "The Help"
Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"
--
Same as with Beginners, the film left a lot to be desired. However, Meryl Streep owned the role of Thatcher. She was phenomenal.
--

Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

Animated Feature Film
"A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
"Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
"Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
"Puss in Boots" Chris Miller
"Rango" Gore Verbinski

Art Direction
"The Artist" Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
"Hugo" Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"Midnight in Paris" Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
"War Horse" Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography
"The Artist" Guillaume Schiffman
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Jeff Cronenweth
"Hugo" Robert Richardson
"The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki
"War Horse" Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design
"Anonymous" Lisy Christl
"The Artist" Mark Bridges
"Hugo" Sandy Powell
"Jane Eyre" Michael O'Connor
"W.E." Arianne Phillips

Directing
"The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Alexander Payne
"Hugo" Martin Scorsese
"Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
"The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature)
"Hell and Back Again" Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Pina" Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
"Undefeated" TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)
"The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement" Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
"God Is the Bigger Elvis" Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
"Incident in New Baghdad"James Spione
"Saving Face" Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing
"The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Kevin Tent
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
"Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker
"Moneyball" Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film
"Bullhead" Belgium
"Footnote"
"In Darkness" Poland
"Monsieur Lazhar" Canada
"A Separation" Iran

Makeup
"Albert Nobbs" Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
"The Iron Lady" Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)
"The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams
"The Artist" Ludovic Bource
"Hugo" Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias
"War Horse" John Williams

Music (Original Song)
"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Short Film (Animated)
"Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
"La Luna" Enrico Casarosa
"A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
"Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)
"Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
"Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
"The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
"Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
"Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing
"Drive" Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Ren Klyce
"Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
"War Horse" Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
"Hugo" Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
"Moneyball" Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
"War Horse" Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
"Hugo" Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
"Real Steel" Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
"Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan
"The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
"Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
"The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
"Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
"Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
"Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
"A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi
--
(I couldn't pick between these two! I identify so well with Midnight in Paris that I am probably very bias towards it's screenplay, but I think it deserves to win. But so does The Artist. Hmm...)
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The 84th annual Academy Awards will air live from Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on February 26.

Stay tuned for more up-to-date, exciting awards season news and opinion! Only at Disney, etc.

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Animation Roundtable features Lasseter, 'Pooh' director, and a discussion on MoCap

Briefly: Watch the Hollywood Reporter's roundtable discussion with the Animation contenders this awards season. Those in the discussion include Stephen J. Anderson (Winnie the Pooh), Jamie Beard (Tintin), John Lasseter (Cars 2), Chris Miller (Puss in Boots), Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2), Carlos Saldanha (Rio) and Gore Verbinski (Rango).

Make sure to watch all three parts of the discussion, which covers a range of topics, including the controversial "motion capture vs. animation" debate.

Enjoy.

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Unkrich in TIME's 'Influential People' Poll

Any of you who thought that TS3's award season had run dry are gravely mistaken. Everyone's favorite Toy Story 3 director, Lee Unkrich, has been nominated for yet another award: TIME Magazine's Top 100 Most Influential People of 2011!

Fellow nominees include Lady Gaga, Mark Zuckerberg, and Barack Obama. Currently, Mr. Unkrich is 32nd out of 203 nominees, beating out Kanye West, Christian Bale, Oprah, George Clooney, and Christopher Nolan, as well as 171 other high profile celebrities, government officials, etc.

Help a Pixarian make the list of TIME's Top 100 Most Influential People of the Year by voting for Lee here.

See the current results of the poll here.

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The 83rd Annual Academy Awards

The biggest night in Hollywood has just about wrapped up (at least it has for you and I--I'm sure the night has just begun for all of the big stars out there), and I have to say there were absolutely no surprises this year. The King's Speech was the big winner, with four awards for Best Actor, Screenplay, Directing, and Picture--it certainly deserved these awards. It was a phenomenal cinematic piece.

And, of course, Toy Story 3 won for Best Animated Feature (see pics of the Animated Feature Symposium from a few days ago at TPB here) and Randy Newman won for Best Original Song, "We Belong Together." Oh, and he had, by far, the best acceptance speech of the night. Although I am ecstatic he won this award, what was up with his "live performance"? The tempo was way sped up, Randy's voice was drowned out, and none of the instrumentation but the piano was live. That aspect of the awards were a bit of a let-down.

In fact, the whole ceremony felt very detached and weird; they kept trying to find a theme with their little vignettes about past Oscar shows, but nothing really clicked. Not only that, but all of the jokes were, quite frankly, just lame. And Anne Hathaway was plain annoying. The whole time . . . I approve of the winners (although I still think Toy Story 3 should have won Best Picture, and Day & Night for Animated Short), but the show itself could have been much better.

Congrats to the crew at Pixar, the guys behind The King's Speech, and all of the other winners.

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'TS3' Award Updates

Everyone's favorite animated film of last year has been raking in the awards. Last night it won, to nobody's surprise, the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. Pixar has swept the category every year since its creation half a decade ago.

In his acceptance speech, Lee thanked everyone at Disney and Pixar, John Lasseter, Randy Newman, and the whole cast of "an animated movie that beats with a human heart." His speech was certainly the most genuine (and funny) of the evening. Watch it in its entirety here.

In addition to this honor, Toy Story 3 has been nominated for three Orange British Academy Film Awards by BAFTA, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. The nominations include Animated Film, Adapted Screenplay, and Special Visual Effects. The awards will be presented in a few weeks on February 13 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

Also, Toy Story 3 has won a Critics' Choice Award and the Golden Tomato from the king of all film review websites, Rotten Tomatoes.

All of these honors bestowed upon Toy Story 3 are excellent and well-deserved. However, they will be small bananas compared to the Oscar for Best Picture that I am certain Toy Story 3 is going to win.

Certain!

(I hope . . .)

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'Toy Story 3' Link Round-up: Featurettes, Storyboards, the Screenplay, Interviews, and more!

The Toy Story 3 Blu-ray has been officially released, and I'm planning to watch the complete trilogy back-to-back-to-back this weekend. It's gonna be awesome.

Anyways, to coincide with the release of the Blu-ray and DVD, Disney has released a few things online for our viewing pleasure.

The first is this set of previews, letting you in on what you'll get to see within the Bonus Features section of the Blu-ray.

Next up is a set of storyboards from the "Thrown Away" sequence in Toy Story 3. They are huge images, and slightly cleaner than I'd have expected storyboard drawings to be. Still, they get the action across effectively, and obviously did their job well:






NPR's Fresh Air conducted a wonderful interview with Lee Unkrich and Michael Arndt here. It's definitely worth a listen--if you wondered why you cried at the end of the movie (twice), this will satisfy your curiosity. They talk about everything from advances in technology, to the infamous story retreats, to how Lee thinks of his animators as his actors. Give it a listen if you've got the time. You'll enjoy it. I promise.

Also check out Ned Beatty's (voice of Lotso) recent interview with Hollywood.com here.

I also thought I'd mention this article published in the LA Times yesterday. It predicted a victory for the Conservatives at this year's midterm elections, based purely on the popularity of Toy Story 3. While I think that this theory is completely absurd, it's an entertaining op-ed piece.

Finally, Walt Disney Animation Studios has released the complete Toy Story 3 screenplay, written by Michael Arndt, for your reading enjoyment here. It is located on their "Awards" site, which also indicates the other categories that they hope Toy Story 3 will be nominated for. These include Best Original Song for Randy Newman, Best Director for Lee Unkrich, and Best Picture for Darla K. Anderson. See the complete list of potential nominations here.

I'm calling it right now: Toy Story 3 will be the first animated movie to ever win Best Picture at the Oscars. Maybe I'm just being blindly optimistic, but that's how I see it playing out. It really is the most critically-acclaimed and the highest-grossing film of the year. It deserves Best Picture.

I loved Toy Story 3, and am now the proud owner of the complete trilogy on Blu-ray. I'm planning on watching every Toy Story, as well as every special feature, this Friday night. And I can hardly wait.

Next stop: Awards Season!

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The 82nd Annual Academy Awards

Up won one for the Best Animated Feature, Christoph Waltz won for Best Supporting Actor, and, unfortunately, Randy Newman did not win for his Original Songs from The Princess and the Frog (The Weary Kind won from Crazy Heart). No surprises, but I'm glad that Christoph and Docter both won, and they both had great acceptance speeches.

Sadly, Up did not win for Best Original Screenplay. My second choice would've been Quentin for the wonderful Inglorious Basterds script. Oh well, I suppose that The Hurt Locker deserved it too.

Michael Giacchino won an Oscar for Best Original Score! Even though this is not a surprise in the slightest, I am still very happy for him. The score of Up truly was pheonomenal--it was filled with emotion, heart, and a timeless melody. Congratulations, Michael Giacchino! (And great acceptance speech, too! I like the Ellie Badge.)

Well, The Hurt Locker was the big winner tonight. Up, while not winning Best Picture, still took home two awards and was also graced with its prestigious Best Picture nomination. Congratulations to Pixar, Michael Giacchino, and all of the other winners! See the full list of winners here.


(Also, take a look at Lee Unkrich's Twitpic page. Along with the above photo, he has taken a couple more at the Oscars ceremony which he attended. Very cool.)

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The 37th Annie Awards' Winners

Getting lost in the sea of celebration resulting from Up's Best Picture nomination by the Academy is the list of winners at the 37th Annual Annie Awards. The big winners were Up and Fantastic Mr. Fox:

Best Animated Feature
Up (Pixar Animation Studios)

Best Animated Television Production
Prep and Landing — (Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Best Home Entertainment Production
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder

Best Animated Short Subject
Robot Chicken: Star Wars 2.5

Best Animated Television Production for Children
The Penguins of Madagascar (Nickelodeon and DreamWorks)

Character Animation in a Feature Production
Eric Goldberg for The Princess and the Frog

Character Design in a Feature Production
Shane Prigmore for Coraline

Directing in a Feature Production
Pete Docter “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios

Writing in a Television Production
Daniel Chun - The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XX

Writing in a Feature Production
Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach - Fantastic Mr. Fox

Go here for a complete list of winners (and nominees).

I am very surprised (and pleased) about Robot Chicken and Futurama's wins. I am also very glad that Eric Goldberg's talents were rewarded; Louis really was a great, well-designed and -animated character. Also, unexpectedly, Prep and Landing received several awards.

Congratualtions to Disney, Pixar, and all of the other winners at this year's Annie Awards!

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Giacchino Wins at the Grammys

While the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards haven't aired yet, some awards have already been given out at a separate, non-televised ceremony. One of the winners at this ceremony was the brilliant composer Michael Giacchino. He won two awards: one for "Married Life" as the best instrumental composition, and another for Up having the best score of the year.

This is so exciting! Up's score truly is the best I have ever heard, and "Married Life" really is a remarkable composition. I am so glad the genius of Giacchino and the timelessness of Pixar are being recognized this awards season.

Now all that's left are the Oscars...

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Shatner to Host 37th Annie Awards

Briefly: ASIFA-Hollywood has announced that William Shatner will host the 37th Annual Annie Awards on February 6, 2010 at the UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, CA. Very cool.

Now the only question is, who will win? Will Pixar continue to sweep the awards season, or will The Princess and the Frog or Coraline or even The Fantastic Mr. Fox win a little, too? We will know soon enough...

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'Up' Wins at the Golden Globes

Up can add two more awards to its ever-growing list of accolades. Docter is taking home a Golden Globe for Up as the Best Animated Feature, and Michael Giacchino is taking one home for his score. The legendary Paul McCartney presented the award to Docter, stating that “animation is not just for children, it also for adults who take drugs.” Everyone knew that Up would win best animated feature, since it almost had a chance at getting nominated for best picture. But what I am really glad about is Up's win for Best Score. Michael Giacchino really did write a truly glorious score. He definitely deserves his globe, and deserves the Oscar that is most certainly heading his way.

Great job to Pete Docter, Michael Giacchino, and Pixar!

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Tons of Awards for 'Up'

Up was the best film of 2009. Luckily, it is obvious that as the awards season gets into high gear, the majority of the critics agree. First, Up was given the Rotten Tomatoes Golden Tomato Award, recognizing it as the highest rated film of 2009 at 98%. Up was then recognized as the Favorite Family Movie of last year at the 36th annual People's Choice Awards. And, finally, Up won the Best Animated Feature Film and the Best Score at the Critics' Choice Award.

I sure hope that Up keeps going strong through the Golden Globes and the Oscars. Way to go, Pixar!

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'Princess and the Frog' Score Ineligible at Oscars

Randy Newman wrote a wonderful score for Disney's most recent animated masterpiece, The Princess and the Frog. However, after having mailed the nominations ballots, the Music Branch Executive Committee of the Academy Awards decided that the score for the film could not be eligible for an Oscar due to Rule 16, Section II, Paragraph E: "...scores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other preexisting music, diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs, or assembled from the music of more than one composer shall not be eligible." They have yet to specify which rule the score has broken.

If you loved the music of The Princess and the Frog like I did, don't feel too bad. The film is still eligible to win with one of its four original songs. And, frankly, it should do very well in this category, being up against songs from Avatar and Nine (neither of which are anything special). Sorry there, Randy. At least you can look forward to an Oscar for one of your great original songs.

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Annie Awards Nominations Announced

Well, the Annie Awards are here once more. The biggest animation awards' nominations have been released. Pixar's Up has 9 nominations and Disney's The Princess and the Frog has eight. It's also worth mentioning that Partly Cloudy was not nominated, and that William Reeves (a founding member at Pixar) will be receiving the honorary Ub Iwerks award.

I hope we don't have a repeat of last year when WALL-E was shut out in favor of Kung Fu Panda; even paid-off judges couldn't call the gimmick-y Monsters vs. Aliens better than the masterpiece that was Up. Here is the complete nominations list (I have bolded which ones I'm pulling for to win):

Best Animated Feature

* Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs — Sony Pictures Animation
* Coraline — Laika
* Fantastic Mr. Fox — 20th Century Fox
* The Princess and the Frog — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* The Secret of Kells — Cartoon Saloon
* Up — Pixar Animation Studios

Best Animated Television Production

* Glenn Martin, DDS — Tornante, Cuppa Coffee Studios & Rogers Communications
* Merry Madagascar — DreamWorks Animation
* Prep and Landing — ABC Family/Walt Disney Animation Studios
* The Simpsons — Gracie Films

Best Animated Television Production for Children

* Mickey Mouse Clubhouse — Disney Television Animation
* SpongeBob SquarePants — Nickelodeon
* The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack — Cartoon Network Studios
* The Mighty B! — Nickelodeon/Polka Dot Pictures/Paper Kite Productions
* The Penguins of Madagascar — Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation

Animated Effects

* Scott Cegielski “Monsters vs. Aliens” — DreamWorks Animation
* Alexander Feigin “9” — 9 L.L.C.
* Eric Froemling “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Tom Kluyskens “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” — Sony Pictures Animation
* James Mansfield “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Television Production

* Mark Donald “B.O.B.’s Big Break” — DreamWorks Animation
* Mark Mitchell “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Kevan Shorey “Merry Madagascar” — DreamWorks Animation
* Tony Smeed “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Phillip To “Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space” — DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Feature Production

* Andreas Deja “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Eric Goldberg “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Travis Knight “Coraline” — Laika
* Daniel Nguyen “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Bruce Smith “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Character Design in a Television Production

* Bryan Arnett “The Mighty B! – Catatonic” — Nickelodeon/Polka Dot Pictures/Paper Kite Productions
* Ben Balistreri “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” — Cartoon Network Studios
* Craig Kellman “Merry Madagascar” — DreamWorks Animation
* Bill Schwab “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Character Design in a Feature Production

* Daniel Lopez Munoz “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Shane Prigmore “Coraline” — Laika
* Shannon Tindle “Coraline” — Laika

Directing in a Feature Production

* Wes Anderson “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — 20th Century Fox
* Pete Docter “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Christopher Miller, Phil Lord “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” — Sony Pictures Animation
* Hayao Miyazaki “Ponyo” — Studio Ghibli
* Henry Selick “Coraline” — Laika

Music in a Television Production

* Michael Giacchino “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Kevin Kiner “Star Wars: The Clone Wars “Weapons Factory” — Lucasfilm Animation Ltd.
* Guy Moon “The Fairly OddParents: “Wishology-The Big Beginning” — Nickelodeon

Music in a Feature Production

* Bruno Coulais “Coraline” — Laika
* Michael Giacchino “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Joe Hisaishi “Ponyo” — Studio Ghibli
* John Powell “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” — Blue Sky Studios

Writing in a Feature Production

* Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach – “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — 20th Century Fox
* Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy – “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Timothy Hyde Harris and David Bowers – “Astro Boy” — Imagi Studios
* Christopher Miller and Phil Lord – “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” — Sony Pictures Animation

There are many other nominations at the website here. The awards are slated to take place on Saturday, February 6, 2009 at UCLA's Royce Hall in LA.

Source: The Disney Blog and The Pixar Blog

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For Your Consideration: 'Up'

The Oscar campaign for the animated film of the year has begun. Up is being offered for the academy's consideration in the categories of:

• Best Picture
  
• Best Animated Feature
• Best Director
• Best Original Screenplay
• Best Cinematography
• Best Film Editing
• Best Art Direction
• Best Sound Mixing
• Best Sound Editing
• Best Original Score

I think that it definitely deserves Best Picture, Animated Feature, Original Screenplay, Art Direction, and (especially) Best Original Score, even though I would most likely give it almost all of the other awards, as well, over the competitors.

Above you will find one of the advertisements released by Disney to promote at the Academy Awards. Partly Cloudy is also being promoted "For Your Consideration in All Categories," even though all it can really win is Best Animated Short.

I sure do hope that Up is able to win Best Picture at this year's Oscars. It surely deserves it. In fact, the chances are even better for Up than they are for WALL-E due to the recent rule change.

The Oscars will air on Sunday, March 7, 2010, and the nominations will be announced in three months on February 2.

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Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to host the 82nd Annual Academy Awards

After much deliberation and guesses within the media, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin have been selected to cohost the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, which will air live March 7 on ABC. I predict that they picked Steve Martin because he is funny and everyone loves him, and Alec Baldwin because he is in 30 Rock. Another reason may be that having the two stars of the upcoming comedy It's Complicated in somewhere so prestigious together will allow them to promote the thing like crazy.

Anyways, Steve Martin is one of my favorite actors and comedians. As you may know, he is deeply rooted within Disney, having started his career as a magician in the Main Street Magic Shop and recently being the narrator of the "50 Magical Years" show that was all about the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. I don't have much to say about Alec Baldwin, except that I hope he doesn't hog the spotlight away from Steve. I think that Mr. Martin is a perfect fit for the position of Oscars host (he has actually done it twice before), and I cannot wait to see his performance (banjo and the arrow, anyone?...). After all, he is one wild and crazy guy.

Source: Variety

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Pixar Team Awarded at Venice

The Venice Film Festival is underway, and the Pixar creative team just took center stage at the awards ceremony. John Lasseter and directors Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Brad Bird, and Lee Unkrich were given the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement prize earlier today.

Lasseter said, during the ceremony, that: "Our dream is always simple: to entertain our audiences around the world."

(Well, Mr. Lasseter, you have definitely succeeded there.)

The prize was awarded by George Lucas, who, of course, was once a huge part of Pixar. Later, Lasseter told reporters that he thought "anybody else when they sell a company and the company goes on to be very successful, they would feel like they missed out, [but] George Lucas is so proud of us and we are so thankful to him."

Congratulations, Team Pixar.

Source: Associated Press

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Oscars Double Amount of Best Picture Nominations

Briefly: The Academy has upped the amount of Best Picture nominations for next year's 82nd annual award ceremony from 5 to 10 nominees.

This is very exciting news! Not only will predicting the winners be more difficult, but this also allows more films to be recognized for the wonderful films they are. I think that this is glorious news, which makes me wonder why they hadn't done this earlier. There are films every single year which I think are worthy of a Best Picture nomination, but are then muscled out by films with bigger budgets.

So, does this mean that Up will be nominated for Best Picture in February? I say, "absolutely". There are certainly not 10 other films that surpass the beauty and greatness of Up. Mark my words: Up will definitely be nominated for Best Picture at the 82nd Academy Awards. Will it win? I hope so, but am really not sure.

Source: Cinematical

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'Up' to Premiere at Cannes

The 62nd Cannes Film Festival committee has chosen the Opening Ceremony film for this year's festival, and they have selected Up!

This is the very first time that an animated movie has been awarded this honor, since the Cannes Film Festival is one of the most prestigious film festivals out there. This will be a big boost for Pixar's already stunning reputation.

Hopefully this will make Hollywood treat Up like they treat every other non-animated movie. Perhaps, even, this will give Up the boost it might need to get a Best Picture nomination at next year's Academy Awards and hopefully fair representation at the Annie Awards. Unlike WALL-E's treatment earlier this year... Is that too much to ask?

Anyways, he festival will take place from May 13 through the 24th.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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Pixar Honors Employess with Buzz Statues [UPDATED]

A set of pictures on Flickr depict a large set of tall, heavy and presumably bronze Buzz Lightyear statues. Each statue has a Pixar employee's name, as well as the words "10 Years of Passion & Commitment", written on the base. The statues were awarded two days ago as a thank you to all employees who have been with Pixar for at least 10 years. Employees who have worked at Pixar for 20 years were awarded a very special Woody statue. All statues were designed by the wonderful and gifted Jerome Ranft. 205 of the very cool Buzz Lightyear awards were handed out to the talented Pixar veterans.


Update: More photos have emerged on Flickr:

• Andrew Stanton and John Lasseter inspecting the Woody statues
• Eben Ostby, a 20 year Pixar veteran, holding one of the very, very cool Woody statues
• Ed Catmull at the reception/party eatin' some delicious fried chicken
  

Source: The Pixar Blog

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