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The only way to make any money in Hollywood today is to luck into a franchise you can run into the ground, but when you have to keep the same story going in perpetuity, it’s easy to write yourself into a corner. Sometimes, you have to take a few steps back to tell the story you want to tell. Sometimes, you have to step back until you body slam enough audience members that they’ve completely forgotten everything that’s come before.

5 Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith

George Lucas is the king of making it up as he goes along, previous events be damned, resulting most weirdly in Luke and Leia becoming siblings who have kissed. The most flat-out nonsense moment, however, is when Luke asks Leia in Return of the Jedi what she remembers of her biological mother, and she describes her as “beautiful,...

For 88 years now, Disney has been releasing animated films with fantastical stories meant to delight children of all ages, creating a legacy of family-friendly entertainment that serves as its own stylistic canon. Sometimes Disney – or their competitors – will release a film that riffs on that style, but generally the decades have done little to whittle away at the formula first introduced with 1937's Snow White or 1942's Bambi: whatever struggles the protagonist goes through, they end with a "happily ever after" moment. Interestingly, Disney's Onward reexamined that trope.

Released theatrically in 2020, Onward is as full of humor as pathos. Teenage elf Ian (Tom Holland) and his older brother Barley (Chris Pratt) live in a fantasy world with supposedly little magic in Onward. On Ian's 16th birthday, they discover that their long-deceased father was secretly a wizard, and that he left them a way to return him to life for just a day.

The highest grossing animated movie of all time, Disney’s Inside Out 2, drew 30.5 million views worldwide on Disney+ in its first five days, not only becoming the No. 1 film premiere Ytd, but even more.

The sequel dropped on Disney+ on Sept. 25, repping a 104 theatrical window for the movie between cinemas and the streaming service.

Inside Out 2‘s viewership is the best film premiere on Disney+ since Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Encanto (2021), and the No. 1 film premiere of all time in Emea and Latam (Latin America).

Since the first Inside Out 2 teaser trailer premiered to record numbers, there have been more than 121 million views of Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out (2015) globally on Disney+.

The movie opened on June 14 in theaters to $295M WW, the third debut for an animated movie ever, returning Disney to its pre-Covid box office glory. That sequel directed...

“Inside Out 2,” currently the highest-grossing film of 2024, is available to stream on Disney+ starting today.

Stream 'Inside Out 2' On Disney+ $7.99/Month

Released on June 14, the film follows the five familiar emotions from the first “Inside Out,” Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and Disgust (Liza Lapira), as they navigate Riley (Kensington Tallman) through the beginnings of puberty. But as Riley heads off to a sleep-away hockey camp, Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), Envy (Ayo Edebiri) and Ennui/Bordem (Adèle Exarchopoulus) take over the control room, evicting the originals from their post.

Kelsey Mann directed “Inside Out 2” and developed the story with producer Meg LeFauve. The film had the second-highest opening weekend of 2024, pulling in $155 million at the domestic box office with another $140 million overseas. The animated family comedy crossed the $1 billion threshold and is currently sitting at a worldwide gross of $1.5 billion.

Disney+ offers a lot of specials, series, and films perfect for the spooky season. In order to make it easier for people to find this type of content, the streaming service created a collection filled with its fall-themed content. Many of these movies are nostalgic to older audiences, as they would air on the Disney Channel every year to celebrate Halloween, but they are also creating more content all the time.

Many of the films still hold up to this day, with some of them bold enough to use darker story elements and imagery guaranteed to creep out the audience. All the content is rated from G and PG to PG-13, which allows the entire family to enjoy these films together. Nothing beats a fall night with the family huddled together under blankets while watching a movie.

Updated on September 5, 2024, by Robbie Robinson: Disney has pumped out plenty of...

On October 16, 2023, Disney celebrated 100 years of magic, from movies, television shows, theme parks, and an improbable corporate identity that has become beloved all on its own. Disney's most significant impact is the cinematic canon that defined the company, and as is to be expected from such an iconic company, it has gone through a lot of changes in its century-long history.

Disney has had eight distinct eras that shaped the company and altered the course of its vaunted animation. Each generation has had highs and lows some more than others but each has had its clear place in the Disney timeline. Despite facing various hardships, Disney has continued to delight fans of all ages with its timeless takes on classic fairy tales and original stories that resonate just as deeply. Every Disney fan has their favorite film and era, but some rank better than others in performance and quality.

Updated...

It’s a practical joke to ask a screenwriter to write about anxiety.

The very nature of the occupation is to walk around constantly asking yourself: What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen in this moment? To this character? To someone the character loves? To someone I love? To me?

But there’s a special kind of anxiety that comes with writing the sequel to a beloved film like Inside Out. Aside from the many accolades bestowed on it — it’s a perfect film with an Oscar-nominated screenplay — it’s also my personal favorite Pixar movie.

It had been a dream of mine to write at Pixar. Six years ago I had interviewed with director Dan Scanlon to write Onward, but the timing didn’t work out when Showtime greenlit my Jim Carrey-starring series Kidding. Now, here I was again, passing beneath the giant Luxo lamp, getting...

It was a little touch and go during the first couple of years of the pandemic, but it feels relatively safe to say that Pixar is back. Director Kelsey Mann's "Inside Out 2" hit theaters this past weekend and delivered a massive, most welcome boon to the box office with record-breaking $295 million global opening. It ranks as the biggest global opening ever for an animated film. That number includes an estimated $155 million domestically, which is the second-biggest domestic opening for an animated movie ever behind only 2018's "Incredibles 2" ($182.6 million). It also means that Mann has earned his place in cinema history as the film secured another pretty impressive record over the weekend.

While Mann has been working at Pixar for more than a decade, "Inside Out 2" serves as his feature directorial debut. That being the case, that $155 million number is very important as it means Mann now...

Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” opens in theaters nationwide next week, inviting moviegoers inside the mind of newly minted teenager Riley just as Headquarters undergoes a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions

In the follow-up to 2015’s Oscar®-winning “Inside Out,” Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust—who’ve long been running a successful operation by all accounts—aren’t sure how to feel when Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment show up. The voice cast includes Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Liza Lapira, Tony Hale, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Ayo Edebiri, Lilimar, Grace Lu, Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, Paul Walter Hauser and Yvette Nicole Brown. “Inside Out 2” is directed by Kelsey Mann, produced by Mark Nielsen and executive produced by Pete Docter, Jonas Rivera and Dan Scanlon. The film features a screenplay by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein...

We're only 9 days away from Inside Out 2 arriving in theaters, and Pixar has released the final trailer for the sequel (via Toonado.com). That puts the spotlight on many of Riley's new emotions, including a fun take on Nostalgia. 

Maya Hawke's Anxiety commands much of the screentime here, though, and Joy actress Amy Poehler recently dropped some hints about that character in an interview with Refinery29 Australia.

"Anxiety shows up for a reason," she told the site. "I think we tend to want to push anxiety away - 'Don't worry about it, it's fine!' We want to kind of get it out of our life. But what I think is really cool is they [the filmmakers] let anxiety show up to protect Riley."

"Anxiety gives us a lot of information. It can be really like an engine that gets us to do things and it's not all bad. But...

Tickets went on sale for Disney and Pixar's Inside Out 2 earlier today, and we're now just one month away from watching the long-awaited sequel to the 2015 hit movie. This follow-up will welcome different Emotions to now-teenager Riley's mind, and a newly released clip shows the returning fan favourites getting acquainted with Anxiety.

Earlier this year, director Kelsey Mann promised Anxiety is going to stir things up within headquarters. "Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, might be new to the crew, but she’s not really the type to take a back seat. That makes a lot of sense if you think about it in terms of what goes on inside all our minds."

Pixar has also shared some new posters for the movie featuring a mix of characters and we'd guess that one final trailer will head our way in the coming weeks.

The studio has struggled since the pandemic,...

Unnecessary prequels can harm the original movie by providing useless or confusing information that doesn't add to the story or answer big questions. Some prequels offer answers to questions that no one had, making them forgettable and ultimately unnecessary. Prequels should be careful not to ruin the mystery or change the motivations and purpose of beloved characters, as this can have a negative impact on the overall experience.

Prequels are used to expand the story of the original movie and answer some of the biggest questions about the characters and their backstories, but there have been some prequels that were completely unnecessary and did nothing to add or improve the original movie. The entertainment industry is defined by trends, and one that has been going strong in the film industry for many years now is that of prequels. Many filmmakers have opted to make prequels to well-known movies in an...

After one of the most impressive winning streaks in Hollywood history, Pixar has seen its fortunes reversed in recent years, with last year’s flop Lightyear and a pandemic-era policy of sending its features straight to streaming at Disney+. Now, Pixar faces a major test of brand strength as it prepares to unveil Elemental, its first original theatrical feature since Covid-19 hit.

Directed by Peter Sohn, the film is based on an original story set in a world where fire, water, earth and air residents live together. Among early reviews, the title has an underwhelming 64 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a low number for Pixar. Additionally, the movie is tracking to soft numbers, just $37 million to $38 million over the June 16-18 opening weekend, which it shares with Warner Bros.’ The Flash. Only a handful of Disney’s releases have debuted to less than $50 million. (There were plenty of negative...

Almost a decade after the release of Monsters University, Monsters, Inc. fans are still upset about how a major origin detail was changed. While Monsters, Inc. shows off the lives of top scaring duo Mike and Sully, prequel Monsters University portrays how the two met, detailing their college-era rivalry and contradicting something the Pixar original initially established.

While Monsters University provides a compelling backstory for the Scarers, it does not particularly hold to previously established lore. In Monsters, Inc. it's revealed that Sully (John Goodman) and Mike (Billy Crystal) met while still in grade school and stick together for the rest of their lives. In Monsters University, however, they instead meet in college and are hardly friends from the start. It is a storyline that retconned Mike and Sully's origin in a serious way, which has long infuriated fans. Many have taken to social media platforms like Reddit to vent their frustrations,...

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu | Written by Qui Nguyen | Directed by Don Hall

A journey deep into an uncharted and treacherous land, where fantastical creatures await the legendary Clades – a family of explorers whose differences threaten to topple their latest, and by far most crucial, mission.

It’s extremely disappointing to see how Disney’s new animated feature Strange World came out. It’s the sixty-first film released by the juggernaut studio, following the immense success of their previous projects such as Encanto and the wildly popular Frozen II.

Although director Don Hall definitely had some bold ideas for where this film could go, he ultimately ended up crafting a massively forgettable film that strangely forgets to inject the heart and joy into the story, which is a hugely important aspect of any Disney movie.

Despite the fact that this movie focuses on some crazy,...

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This article contains IndieWire’s preliminary Best Animated Features predictions for the 2023 Oscars. We regularly update our predictions throughout awards season, and republish previous versions (like this one) for readers to track how the Oscar race has changed. For the latest update on the frontrunners for the 95th Academy Awards, see our 2023 Oscars predictions hub.

Nominations voting is from January 12-17, 2023, with official Oscar nominations announced January 24, 2023. Final voting is March 2-7, 2023. And finally, the 95th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 12 and air live on ABC at 8:00 p.m. Et/ 5:00 p.m. Pt. We update predictions through awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2023 Oscar picks.

At the midway point of 2022, here’s the current state of the animated feature Oscar race: Pixar’s “Turning Red” is the early frontrunner, the studio’s “Lightyear” is still a contender after underperforming at the box...

Dan Scanlon's 2020 animated film "Onward" has a pretty high concept: It is set in a world where fantasy creatures such as elves, centaurs, and manticores not only still exist, but they're the primary population, with no humans anywhere to be seen. Centuries ago, they got by using spells and magic, but they eventually discovered that technological advances were easier and more convenient than the mystical arts, and they evolved into a 21st century-like modern day society that pretty much resembles our own. 

In this world of elven suburbs, a pair of teen elf brothers, Ian (Tom Holland) and Barley (Chris Pratt), are gifted an ancient staff...

The post Onward's Original Pitch Was Almost Too Weird For Pixar appeared first on /Film.

Hot off the success of her feature debut “Turning Red,” Pixar director Domee Shi has been promoted to a key leadership role alongside the film’s producer, Lindsey Collins.

Shi has been named a creative vice president at Pixar, joining a creative leadership team that also includes chief creative officer Pete Docter, “Finding Nemo” director Andrew Stanton, “Onward” director Dan Scanlon and “The Good Dinosaur” director Peter Sohn. The team of creative VPs oversees the development of all productions, serving as executive producers and consultants for the studio’s filmmakers. Shi will report to Docter and Pixar president Jim Morris.

Shi joined Pixar as a story artist on Docter’s 2015 film “Inside Out” and served the same role on “The Good Dinosaur,” “The Incredibles 2” and “Toy Story 4.” In 2018, she directed the short film “Bao,” which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short.

Collins, who served as VP of development,...

Pixar Animation Studios is promoting “Turning Red” producer Lindsey Collins and director Domee Shi into leadership roles at the company.

Collins has been named into a new position, as senior vice president of development. She will lead the development group at Pixar for features and streaming, where current and upcoming filmmakers originate story ideas and shape them into movies for production. She will report to Pixar president Jim Morris and join the creative VP team which supports chief creative officer Pete Docter in guiding the studio’s creative direction.

Collins joins five other SVPs at Pixar, taking a leadership role in steering the studio’s overall business. She’s a nearly 25-year veteran at the studio, including roles as co-producer of “Wall-e,” producer of “Finding Dory” and vice president of development, where she helped spearhead the studio’s SparkShorts program.

“As I reflect on my 25 years at Pixar, the pride...

Disney’s upcoming animated fantasy comedy “Turning Red” is skipping the big screen, marking the third Pixar movie in a row to debut directly on Disney Plus.

By the time “Turning Red” hits the streaming service on March 11, it’ll have been two years since a Pixar film — director Dan Scanlon’s magical adventure “Onward” in 2020 — played in North American theaters. The decision to keep relegating Pixar movies, arguably the gold standard of kid friendly fare, straight to streaming has been puzzling to industry observers and downright frustrating to beleaguered theater operators, who rely on family films to keep cash registers ringing in between the onslaught of superhero spectacles.

Yes, there’s still a pandemic raging. Yes, Disney Plus needs fresh content to boost its subscriber numbers. And yes, family audiences — the target demographic for Pixar — haven’t been eager to return to theaters.

But Disney hasn’t kept every...

It’s been 10 years since Enrico Casarosa was nominated for an Oscar for his debut short film with Pixar, “La Luna.” Now, his debut feature, “Luca,” is about to hit Disney+, and his film is solid proof that the venerated animation studio has changed enormously in the last decade.

Casarosa is just one of the new faces at Pixar stepping up from shorts to features with not just original ideas, but also deeply personal stories that break from the more high-concept films that have made the studio iconic. Last year, Dan Scanlon directed his second film, “Onward,” that dealt with brotherhood and father figures. And next year, Domee Shi will follow up her Oscar-winning short “Bao” with her debut Pixar feature, “Turning Red,” which draws from her Asian Canadian heritage.

In speaking with TheWrap, Casarosa said he’s been able to flourish under the “wonderful” leadership of “Soul” director Pete Docter...

The Oscar race for animated feature is between Pixar’s Black-led “Soul” and Cartoon Saloon’s hand-drawn Irish folktale, “Wolfwalkers” (co-produced by Apple Original Films). Both led Asifa-Hollywood’s prestigious Annie Awards, but the momentum is with “Soul.”

The other nominees include Pixar’s first fantasy, “Onward,” and two entries from Netflix: “Over the Moon,” the gorgeous musical fantasy about the Chinese Moon Goddess from Disney legend Glen Keane (Oscar winner for the “Dear Basketball” short), and Aardman’s “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon.”

With director/chief creative officer Pete Docter at the helm, Pixar accomplished its most ambitious film yet by contrasting gritty New York City with the ethereal Great Before. That’s the pre-birth training center where aspiring jazz pianist Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) finds himself after eluding death in The Great Beyond. He teams up with risk averse new soul, 22 (Tina Fey), on a journey...

For their Oscar-nominated animated feature Onward, director Dan Scanlon and producer Kori Rae wanted to tell a story of personal loss and an appreciation for what you still have.

Onward follows two brothers, Ian (Tom Holland) and Barley (Chris Pratt) Lightfoot, as they find a magical spell that allows them to bring their father back to life for one day. “My brother and I never knew my dad,” Scanlon says, “and I’m always wondering who he was and how we were like him. That led to this idea of ‘what if you could spend one day with someone who you lost,’ which felt like a universal desire for all of us.”

After the spell goes awry and they only bring the bottom half of their father back, the brothers go on a quest to find the last item needed to bring him back completely, before their time with him is up.

It’s been a strange year, but cinema endures. The 2021 British Academy Film and Television Awards took place at the Royal Albert Hall on the 11th of April, 2021. In a first in BAFTA history, four women have been nominated in the Director category, including Nomadland director Chloe Zhao, Sarah Gavron for Rocks, and Shannon Murphy for Babyteeth. Other notable nominees include Promising Young Woman, The Trial of the Chicago 7, The Father, Saint Maud and Minari. It is a diverse line up, and a very unusual time but the red carpets are rolling out, even if they are in living rooms around the world.

Yesterday director Ang Lee was entered into the BAFTA Fellowship, and Noel Clarke was awarded the Outstanding British Contribution to cinema. This evening Edith Bowman and Dermot O’Leary hosted the awards and it was a delight to see Yun-Jung Youn’s incredible win for her role in Minari.

Pete Docter won his first Oscar for a story with a talking dog. He won his second for a story with talking emotions. Now, he’s looking to win his third for a story about talking unborn souls.

“Soul,” which is the heavy favorite to become the 11th Pixar film to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar, is arguably the most ambitious project ever from a studio known for some crazy premises. It’s also Docter’s first as a director since becoming chief creative officer of Pixar. Development on “Soul” — a tale of a jazz musician who cheats death and winds up in an ethereal realm where souls gain their traits before going to Earth — began before Docter was promoted, and he knew the idea was special even in those early pitch meetings.

“People got on board because all the films we do are about us, even if the premise is far out,...

Today, director Dan Scanlon and producer Kori Rae were recognized with their first Oscar nominations, claiming a slot in the Best Animated Feature category with Disney/Pixar’s Onward.

“We’re so proud of the film, and proud of the cast and crew, and it’s a real honor,” said Scanlon. “It’s so surreal, and early in the morning, so it almost feels like a dream. But it’s pretty great.”

“We’re so happy for the cast and crew that put their all into this film, and shared their personal stories, along with Dan’s and mine,” added Rae. “There was a whole lot of heart from the crew on the film, and I’m just so happy for all of them.”

Drawing inspiration for the film from the loss of his father at a very early age, Scanlon feels the film has resonated, in part, because loss has unfortunately been rampant,...

Actor-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas and singer, songwriter, and actor Nick Jonas announced the 93rd Oscars® nominations today (March 15), live from London, via a global live stream on Oscar.com, Oscars.org, the Academy’s digital platforms, an international satellite feed, and broadcast media.

Mank led the field with 10 nominations and becomes the seventh black-and-white film to be nominated for Costume Design and the seventeenth for Cinematography since separate categories for color and black-and-white films were merged in 1967. David Fincher’s film offers a vivid look at Hollywood in the 1930s when movie studios were at the height of their power and influence, and 100 million Americans went to the pictures every week.

Chopra Jonas and Jonas announced the nominees in 23 categories at 5:19 a.m. Pt. For a complete list of nominees, visit the official Oscars website, www.oscar.com.

Academy members from each of the 17 branches vote to determine the...

Shannon Murphy has been nominated for the BAFTA Award for best direction for her debut feature, Babyteeth.

Murphy is in good company, with fellow nominees for the prize including Thomas Vinterberg for Another Round; Lee Issac Chung for Minari; Chloé Zhao for Nomadland; Jasmila Žbanić for Quo Vadis, Aida? and Sarah Gavron for Rocks.

It is the first time in BAFTA history that four women have been nominated in the director category.

These are the first edition of nominations to follow BAFTA’s seven-month diversity review, which came about after it faced significant backlash one year ago for a lack of diversity among nominees – including an all-male director category. Three of the nominated directors are also up for best film not in the English language.

The BAFTA nod is yet another accolade for Babyteeth and Murphy’s work, following on from the film’s premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2019. There,...

Today, at the Royal Albert Hall, Aisling Bea and Susan Wokoma, on behalf of The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), announced the nominations for the Ee British Academy Film Awards in 2021, celebrating the very best in film of the past year.

In a first in BAFTA history, four women have been nominated in the Director category, including ‘Nomadland’ director Chloe Zhao, Sarah Gavron for ‘Rocks’, and Shannon Murphy for ‘Babyteeth’. In all, ‘Nomadland’ and ‘Rocks’ received seven nominations each.

‘The Father’, ‘Mank’, ‘Minari’ and ‘Promising Young Woman’ all received a total of six nominations while ‘The Dig’ and ‘The Mauritanian’ received five.

Supporting new talent is at the heart of BAFTA’s remit and four of the five nominated films in Outstanding Debut are also nominated across other categories. This year, first-time nominees account for four of the six nominated Directors and 21 of the 24 nominees in the performance categories.

‘The Father’, ‘Mank’, ‘Minari’, ‘Promising Young Woman’ also score well.

Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland and UK teenage drama Rocks led the 2021 Bafta film awards nominations, which were announced today (March 9).

Both titles received seven nominations, including for directors Zhao and Sarah Gavron, and for Frances McDormand and Bukky Bakray in leading actress respectively.

Scroll down for full list of nominations

Four titles received six nominations each: UK titles The Father and Promising Young Woman, plus Minari and Mank from the US.

In the first Bafta film awards since widespread criticism over the lack of diversity in the 2020 nominations, four out...

This story about “Onward” first appeared in the Oscar Nominations Preview issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine

Dan Scanlon now holds a rather strange place in movie history. His Pixar film, “Onward,” was the last film standing at No. 1 at the box office before movie theaters across the nation were forced to close by the pandemic. But even though his film was only in theaters for a couple of weeks, he was heartened by how families embraced “Onward” in quarantine.

“This movie is so much about trying to make the most of what you have when something is missing or there is someone you can’t be with, and I think that’s something a lot of people have been grappling with in lockdown,” Scanlon said. “People would send me pictures of their families turning their living rooms into a movie theater and kids making hand-drawn movie tickets, and I...

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. Eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and will be displayed next to revision date.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective

Draft>>>Pre Season>>>Regular Season>>>Post Season

2021 Oscars Predictions:

Best Animated Feature

Updated: Mar. 4, 2021

Awards Prediction Commentary: “Over the Moon” continues to miss in a few key spots like art directors and could be that Oscar morning snub we aren’t anticipating, even with the love for Glen Keane pouring through the branch.

The directors of nine of the animated films under consideration for Academy Award nominations will discuss their craft in a free online PreVIEW event Friday, March 5, beginning at 10 a.m. Pt.

“Animated Features Oscar Contenders – A Directors’ Discussion,” presented by the View Conference, features Glen Keane (“Over the Moon”); Pete Docter and Kemp Powers (“Soul”), Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart (“Wolfwalkers”), Joel Crawford (“The Croods: A New Age”), Walt Dohrn (“Trolls World Tour”), Kris Pearn (“The Willoughbys”), Dan Scanlon (“Onward”), Gitanjali Rao (“Bombay Rose”), and Will Becher and Richard Phelan (“A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon”).

“The annual awards season always encourages lively discussion, and this year is no exception,” says View Conference director Dr. Maria Elena Gutierrez. “It is such an honor for View Conference to host this conversation between 12 of our leading filmmakers. Their contribution to the art and craft of animated features is immeasurable, and I cannot...

This marks the fourth year that the entire membership of the academy can take part in the nomination stage of the Animated Feature Oscar race. Previously, only select members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch and invited members from the other branches could serve on the committee that decided the nominees. Collectively, the committee tended to favor traditional and stop-motion films over CG fare. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2021 Oscars predictions for Best Animated Feature.)

Mandatory attendance at screenings has been dropped and voters who want to be on the nominations committee need only attest to having seen all the contenders at theaters or screenings or by way of the the academy’s streaming site.

And the method of determining the nominees has been changed. Gone is the system where voters scored a film from 6 (poor) to 10 (excellent) with only those movies meriting an average mark of...

The nominations for the 3rd Annual Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (Leja) Awards have been announced with “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “Nomadland” leading.

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” by director George C. Wolfe, earned 10 nominations including best picture, best actor for Chadwick Boseman, best actress for Viola Davis, best supporting actor for Colman Domingo, best adapted screenplay for Ruben Santiago-Hudson, best ensemble casting, best production and set design, best costume design, best hair and makeup and best sound.

Chloé Zhao received the most individual nominations for directing, writing, producing and editing Searchlight Pictures’ “Nomadland,” the most for any woman in the history of Leja. Jayro Bustamante was nominated for best picture, director, original screenplay and international feature for “La Llorona.”

Netflix led the studio tally with a total of 42 nominations, and Amazon Studios nabbed an impressive 14 total.

“It’s been an extremely difficult year for our industry and our Latinx community,...

It’s truly a measure of the pandemic that the 19th annual Ves Awards (to be held virtually on April 6) was dominated by Disney+’s “The Mandalorian” with 13 nominations (topped by photoreal episode). Like the Oscar shortlist, there was an absence of big budget, VFX-intensive studio films. But, truth be told, Season 2 of Jon Favreau’s engaging “Star Wars” bounty hunter series offered the industry’s most innovative tech (wrapped around Industrial Light & Magic’s improved StageCraft virtual production system).

Pixar’s “Soul” was the top animation contender with five nominations, while the feature competition was split between “Project Power,” the Netflix superhero film, Robert Zemeckis’ “The Witches” (which streamed on HBO Max), and Disney’s live-action “Mulan” (which streamed on Disney+), each garnering three nominations.

Joining “Project Power” and “The Witches” in the top photoreal feature category were Netflix’s “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” and “The Midnight Sky...

The nominations for the 19th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards have been announced with “The Mandalorian” and “Soul” leading.

“The Mandalorian” leads with 13 nominations including outstanding visual effects in a photoreal episode. “Soul” was next with five nominations, followed by “The Witches” and “Project Power.”

The Ves awards will be handed out in a virtual ceremony and will stream worldwide on April 6.

“Traditions find a way to persist,” said Lisa Cooke, Ves Board Chair. “With vision and a lot of hard work, we are proud to host our annual celebration of the artistry, ingenuity and passion of visual effects practitioners around the world – virtually. We are seeing best in class work that elevates the art of storytelling and engages the audience in new and innovative ways. The Ves Awards is the only venue that showcases and honors these outstanding artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of all our nominees!

The Visual Effects Society today announced the nominees for its 19th annual Ves Awards, which recognize VFX artistry in 25 categories spanning film, TV, animation, commercials and video games. Winners will be announced during a virtual ceremony on Tuesday, April 6.

Disney+’s The Mandalorian leads all TV shows and films with 13 noms, and Disney/Pixar’s animated Soul tops the film side with five. Project Power and The Witches tied for second among movies with three noms apiece in a decidedly strange year for VFX-heavy projects.

Vying for the Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature prize are Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, The Midnight Sky, Project Power, Tenet and The Witches. The films up for

Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature are Da 5 Bloods, Extraction, Mank, News of the World and Welcome to Chechnya.

Soul will battle it out for the Visual Effects in an Animated Feature trophy against fellow Pixar pic Onward,...

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. Eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and will be displayed next to revision date.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective

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2021 Golden Globe Predictions:

Best Motion Picture – Animated

Updated: Feb. 24, 2021

Awards Prediction Commentary: The Golden Globes nominations were announced on Feb. 3, with Netflix’s “Mank” from David Fincher leading with six nods. As the ceremony approaches on Feb. 28, the categories have been analyzed to determine...

With Onward, writer/director Dan Scanlon made magic out of a profound personal experience, using his understanding of loss as a foundation, from which he’d craft a quest story like none other.

The second Disney/Pixar animated feature from Scanlon, following 2013’s Monsters University, centers on Ian (Tom Holland) and Barley Lightfoot (Chris Pratt), elven brothers in search of a magical artifact that will bring their father back to life for a day.

One of few films in 2020 experienced as intended, Onward enjoyed a splashly premiere in Berlin and debuted in theaters across the world in early March. Subsequently, with the enormous degree of loss brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, Scanlon’s film would only become more timely—his notion of channeling pain into art, all the more resonant.

“A big part of the film is about, there’s things you want in life and people you want to be with,...

When brothers Mychael and Jeff Danna were approached by director Dan Scanlon to compose the music for Pixar’s Onward — which follows teenage elf brothers Barley (Chris Pratt) and Ian (Tom Holland), who embark on a mystical quest to reunite with their late father — the duo immediately felt as if fate had brought the project their way.

The two composers didn’t know anything about the project before their meeting with Scanlon and the Onward team. “As [Dan Scanlon is] pitching this story, the hairs on the back of our necks are just going up,” Mychael tells THR. “...

When brothers Mychael and Jeff Danna were approached by director Dan Scanlon to compose the music for Pixar’s Onward — which follows teenage elf brothers Barley (Chris Pratt) and Ian (Tom Holland), who embark on a mystical quest to reunite with their late father — the duo immediately felt as if fate had brought the project their way.

The two composers didn’t know anything about the project before their meeting with Scanlon and the Onward team. “As [Dan Scanlon is] pitching this story, the hairs on the back of our necks are just going up,” Mychael tells THR. “...

Not just one of the best animated films of the year, Pixar’s “Onward” sits as one of the best animated films, period. Beautifully inventive and narratively rich, “Onward” stands as one of the awards season’s most underrated gems, especially with its story.

One of the last films to be seen in theaters before the Covid-19 pandemic, the film has been in the thick of the awards race for best animated feature. As Pixar always does, the film is much more than its visuals. The movie features wonderful voice performances from its cast, including Tom Holland, Chris Pratt and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mychael and Jeff Danna’s inventive score and a wonderful original number “Carried Me With You,” written by Brandi Carlile and Phil and Tim Hanseroth. Dan Scanlon, Jason Headley and Keith Bunin’s screenplay hits all the emotional chords, especially in the film’s big finale.

The trio...

It takes two (or more) to create a performance in an animated film. The actor who records the dialogue and the artists who put together the character’s physical performance. And because the dialogue is recorded first, it can not only influence the script, but also the way a character looks or moves. In fact, during recording sessions, even though a script has been written, actors are often encouraged to improvise.

“The animation medium is ideal for vocal improvisation,” says veteran animator Ron Clements, who co-directed several Disney films with John Musker, including 1992’s “Aladdin,” which starred Robin Williams, a master of improv, as the Genie. “Because the voices are recorded and edited together first, and the animation is done to fit the prerecorded soundtrack, there’s a lot of freedom to experiment and explore multiple variations of line readings. If something doesn’t work, you don’t need to use it.

The looks in animated films combine lots of research, wild imagination and thought. For Pixar’s “Soul,” the artists had to construct the real world of New York City as well as the abstract world Great Before, where protagonist Joe ends up after he plunges down a manhole and hovers between life and death — that presented a whole new challenge: making the intangible concrete.

“One thing on this film, when we’re working with something that you can’t see or imagine, is you have to take it very seriously,” says production designer Steve Pilcher. They decided against going for “quick gags, like a soul world with soul cars,” but “you don’t go for gags, you go for, what would it really be like? And not in terms of reality, but how does it work contextually, visually, with the rest of the film?”

For the Great Before, Pilcher was...

Exclusive: Pixar’s Soul takes viewers to The Great Before, a world where souls find their quirks and passions before manifesting on Earth. The colorful realm rife with pastel-hued spirits was 23 years in the making, when director Pete Docter wondered how his son came into the world with a personality.

“Where did that come from? I thought your personality developed through your interaction with the world,” Docter says.

Set amid the cosmic realms of souls and the bustling streets of New York City, Soul follows frustrated middle-school jazz teacher and pianist Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), who finally get his dream performing gig – until a misstep leads him to his ultimate demise. Hesitant to accept his death, Joe (in spirit form) finds himself in The Great Before, where he meets the unenthusiastic, unmotivated 22 (Tina Fey). In an attempt to help 22 find her purpose and passion, Joe rediscovers what makes life worth living for him.

“A lot of Pixar films are based on personal experiences,” says Onward director Dan Scanlon at Deadline’s Contenders Film awards-season event. “This might be more blatantly autobiographical in some ways.”

That’s not to say that Scanlon descended from elves. Rather, his movie follows two brothers – the younger Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland) and older Barley Lightfoot (Chris Pratt) — who’ve lost their father young in life. All they want is to spend another day with him, and that moment arrives.

Scanlon lost his dad at a very young age with his older brother becoming a big paternal figure in his life.

He did think of rooting the story in human characters, but “we needed a main way to bring the father back for a day. We thought about scientists or a magical science machine, but that felt kind of cold. The idea of magic felt like a more exciting story that led to,...

The second day of Deadline’s Contenders Film kicks off Sunday at 8 a.m. Pt, returning after a big Day 1 on Saturday to complete a slate of 49 films from 16 studios and distributors, one that features a hugely impressive lineup of talent numbering 150 speakers over the course of the weekend for our annual awards-season event.

Click here to register and join the livestream, and follow along all day with coverage on Deadline as well as on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram via @Deadline and #DeadlineContenders. See the full schedule of panels below.

Due to obvious health and safety reasons, and following guidelines about gatherings set by the CDC, Contenders is going virtual, after success doing so starting with Contenders TV in the spring and then again with Contenders International and Contenders Documentary. It has boosted the global reach of the event, and although we miss seeing everyone in person, it has been...

In 2001, the first Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film went to Dreamworks’ “Shrek.” That fairy tale bending film was about a green ogre who went on a journey to find a princess. Nineteen years later, Pixar’s “Onward,” directed by Dan Scanlon, hopes to be another fantasy adventure to get nominated and find magic at the Oscars.

“Onward” is not about a green ogre, but two blue elven brothers who go on a quest to reconnect with their deceased father. It not only touches on the fantasy elements of “Shrek,” but the profound themes of loss and family that other Oscar winners like “Big Hero 6” (2014) and “Coco” (2017) explore.

SEE4 expert film animation directors share when they knew they wanted to work in animation [Exclusive Video Interview]

Here are the things to look for on “Onward’s” quest for Oscar recognition:

1. The quagmire of critics

“Onward” has earned critical raves, with Empire declaring,...

Animated films are primarily targeted towards kids, so it makes sense that our Meet the Experts: Film Animation panelists — Tomm Moore (“Wolfwalkers”), Dan Scanlon (“Onward”), Kris Pearn (“The Willoughbys”) and Walt Dohrn (“Trolls World Tour”) — were first drawn (no pun intended) to the animation when they were young. Click on each name above to view individual panel interviews with each person.

“Just growing up, drawing all the time, watching ‘The Muppets’ — which aren’t animated, but they’re such great designs — watching Chuck Jones films, Warner Bros. shorts — all of that I think made me think, ‘I want to be someone who can put on a show and yet I never wanna be onstage,’” Scanlon shares. “So how is that possible?”

See 2021 Oscar Predictions: Best Animated Feature

Moore recalls his parents waking him up when he was a kid to watch Don Bluth draw the dogs from “All Dogs Go to Heaven...