As December approaches, Netflix is giving away the well-reviewed At Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio a highly publicized start.
Netflix Animation – despite its tough year on the business side – has a strong and varied list of animated feature contenders, the most notable being Carlo Collodi’s moving stop-motion tale of del Toro. Pinocchiowhich has a limited theatrical rollout ahead of its December 9 streaming debut.
Netflix burst onto the animation scene in 2019, releasing its first original animated feature, The Christmas Movie Klausdirected by Sergio Pablos, as well as the French film I lost my body, by Jeremy Clapin. Both films earned Oscar nominations in 2020, and Netflix has had at least one nomination in one category every year since. It won an Oscar for Animated Short Film in 2021, for If anything happens I love youbut the streaming service is still in contention for its first win in the animated feature category.
This year, Netflix could potentially earn several nominations. In the field of stop-motion, in addition to Pinocchiostreamer posted Wendell and savagedirected by Henry Selick (director of the 1993 classic The Nightmare Before Christmas who was nominated for an Oscar for 2009 Coraline) from a screenplay he co-wrote with Oscar-winning actor Jordan Peele about an orphaned teenager and two scheming demon brothers.
Netflix’s latest original, The beast from the seais an ambitious offshore adventure from Chris Williams, which won an Oscar for Disney’s Big Hero 6 (and shared directing credits with Don Hall, who is also a contender this year to direct Disney’s strange world).
The streaming service’s lineup also includes My Father’s Dragonby Oscar-nominated director Nora Twomey (The breadwinner) and Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon, whose previous four films, including wolf walkers and The breadwinnerwere nominated for an Oscar. My Father’s Dragonwritten by Meg Lefauve (Oscar nominee for Upside down) and based on the children’s book by Ruth Stiles Gannett, uses Cartoon Saloon’s distinctive hand-drawn animation style.
Apollo 10 1/2: a childhood in the space age, a story set around the Apollo 11 moon landing written and directed by Richard Linklater rounds out Netflix’s animated feature contenders.
Courtesy of A24
This lineup will take on the Disney juggernaut. Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios have dominated the animated feature category since its first appearance in 2002, with Pixar winning the Oscar 11 times and Disney Animation taking home the statuette four times, including this year. for Charm.
Pixar’s main competitor this season is turn reddirected by Domee Shi, winner of an Oscar 2019 for his animated short, Bao. Released on Disney+ in March, turn red follows a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian student who transforms into a red panda whenever her emotions get the best of her. That debut was followed by Pixar’s first theatrical release since the pandemic began, but Light year – the CG animated adventure based on the Space Ranger from his toy story franchise – was a rare box office miss for the studio. It only grossed $226.4 million worldwide to become the franchise’s lowest earner, although the ambitious film remains a contender.
Despite strong reviews, Disney Animation strange world also struggled at the box office, opening Thanksgiving weekend with a five-day domestic total of just $18.9 million. Directed by the above Oscar winner Hall, strange world follows a family of explorers and is inspired by stories such as that of Jules Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth
Courtesy of Disney/Pixar
Universal’s DreamWorks Animation brings a pair of titles to the run, including its December 21 release, Puss in Boots: The Last Wishthe sequel to the 2011 Oscar nominee Puss in Boots and fallout from the Shrek franchise. (The original Shrek won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002.) In the upcoming film, the eponymous feline voiced by Antonio Banderas suffers an unfortunate accident and, upon learning that he is at the last of his nine , begins to question his own mortality. .
Released in April, DWA’s The villains is director Pierre Perifel’s sleek crime comedy – based on Aaron Blabey’s book series – which drew on the work of filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh and Martin Scorsese.
Meanwhile, sister company Illumination’s recent release has been Minions: The Rise of Gruthe latest Despicable Me franchise which is to date the highest-grossing animated film of the year with nearly $935 million at the worldwide box office.
Category contenders also include A24’s Touch Marcel the shod shell, which follows a stop-motion shell in search of his family. Based on the series of shorts by Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer Camp, the film is directed by Camp and features the voice of Slate as Marcel.
This year, Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation are seeking their first shared nomination with Chance, the story of an unlucky orphan who stumbles across the magical land of luck. It’s directed by Peggy Holmes and produced by John Lasseter – marking his first feature since parting ways with Pixar – alongside David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and David Eisenmann.
Others from the crowded field include an animated documentary eternal spring, which will also represent Canada this year in the race for the Oscars for best international feature film. Directed by Jason Loftus, the film traces an incident in 2002 when members of the banned spiritual group Falun Gong hijacked a state television station in China in an effort to counter government propaganda about their practice.
Several titles from independent distributor GKIDS are also included, including Inu-Oha rock opera by director Masaaki Yuasa (The night is short, step on girl).
Courtesy of Gkids
A version of this story first appeared in the Nov. 9 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.