As the Oscars are fast-approaching, check out this great list of facts that Pixar provided us, concerning Toy Story 3‘s success and the studio’s past Academy Award nominations:
- TOY STORY 3 represents only the third Best Picture nomination for an animated feature. (Beauty and the Beast, 1991; Up, 2009)
- TOY STORY 3 is the most successful animated film in history, having grossed worldwide to date: $1,063,161,943.
- Director Lee Unkrich made his directorial debut with TOY STORY 3, however, he previously co-directed Pixar’s Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc, and Finding Nemo.
- TOY STORY 3’s nomination for adapted screenplay, by Oscar-winner Michael Arndt (‘Little Miss Sunshine’), marks the animation studio’s stunning 7th Oscar nominated screenplay, following the first Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E and Up. Those latter five films also won the Best Animated Feature prize (the category did not exist during Toy Story’s time). Only one other animated film in Oscar history has ever received a screenplay nomination, 2001’s Shrek.
- Concerning screenplays, this is Arndt’s second produced screenplay and he’s received an Oscar nomination for each. He won for “Little Miss Sunshine.” Darla K. Anderson is only the seventh solo female producer ever nominated for Best Picture, and the first since 1996. All other female producers shared producing credits. Darla K. Anderson holds the Guinness Book of World Records record for highest per film box office average (for her four produced films: A Bug’s Life, Monster’s, Inc, Cars, and TS3).
- Randy Newman’s nomination for the Toy Story 3 theme song “We Belong Together” is the famed composer’s 20th Oscar nomination in the music category. His only win was for “If I Didn’t Have You,” his theme song for Pixar’s “Monsters, Inc.” Randy Newman has composed the scores, and songs, for 6 of Pixar’s 11 motion pictures, including Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Cars and TS3, accounting for an amazing 8 of his 20 total Oscar nominations.
- Michael Silvers’ and Tom Myers’ nomination for Sound Editing marks the 7th Pixar film to be nominated for Sound awards by the Academy, for a total of 10 Sound nominations overall, including 3 for Sound Mixing. This is Silvers’ 6th nomination, all for Pixar films. He won (with Randy Thom) for Sound Editing on The Incredibles. This is Myers’ third nomination. Previously, only six animated films have received Sound Category nominations. Two hybrid animation films, Roger Rabbit and The Polar Express, also received nominations.
That is quite a list of achievements! What is absurd (in a good way) is that these represent only a sliver of Pixar’s success. Only 30 days left until the Academy Awards are handed out. The big night on February 14th will likely continue to add to the studio’s growing list of accolades.
To view a long list of awards that Toy Story 3 has already taken home to Emeryville, click here.
