This past weekend, the Golden Globes were handed out, but Monsters University was nowhere to be found as the Hollywood Foreign Press failed to nominate the Pixar film for Best Animated Film. The Globes have been known to be a controversial awards show, though, with many calling it out for its questionable nominees and winners. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (or simply, the Academy), while not exempt from making controversial decisions, is more respected in the industry for the Oscars are still the precipice of awards season. The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and Pixar will have to miss the Oscar parties as well as Monsters University was completely shut out.
‘Monsters University’ Nominated For Animated Film BAFTA
Pixar is no stranger when it comes to awards season. The animated films have earned a wealth of nominations in the short history of the studio, adding to Pixar’s respectable status as one of the elite studios in the film industry. Even now, after the animation house has released its first films that were not universally beloved, the brand carries a certain sense of quality. Monsters University, the latest great Pixar film, extends that quality and is racking up some love from awards organizations. Today, it was announced that the film had earned a BAFTA nomination.
New ‘Monsters University’ Short Arriving In March
At the D23 Expo, Disney and Pixar screened a short entitled Party Central that is essentially a spinoff of Monsters University. It was scheduled to bow in theaters with The Good Dinosaur, which was set to be Pixar’s next feature film. However, after the delay of the dinosaur film, the release of Party Central was up in the air. However, the short had been completed and waiting until 2015 to release it did not make sense. Today, we have found out that the short is coming, and it is sooner than you think.
Disney/Pixar Pushes ‘Monsters University’ For Awards Consideration In Poster Ad
Around this time of year, the marketing department at studios ramp up to remind voters to consider their films when votes are cast for awards. Full-page spreads are taken out in trades such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, ads cover film websites and blogs, and posters are unleashed into the wild. Disney/Pixar has released the first such ad, known as a “For Your Consideration” (FYC) ad, for Monsters University. Take a look at the poster after the break!
The Pixar Perspective on Awards
What is the price of a decreasing amount of prestige? This is the question that may be worth asking most of all right now if you’re a fan of Pixar Animation Studios. As Samad pointed out on the Pixar Times home page, when the Golden Globe nominations were announced this past Thursday morning, Monsters University was not included among the nominees for Best Animated Feature. There is, to be sure, a necessary discussion to be had, not only about how seriously people do or should take the Golden Globes, as well as why, this year, they only nominated three films for Best Animated Feature. (On the latter point, Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, the exquisite and mature The Wind Rises, was nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film, but not Best Animated Feature, inexplicably. Also, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the Golden Globes, has a rule stating that if fewer than 12, but more than 7, animated features qualify in a given year, there can only be three Best Animated Feature nominees. As there were only 10 wide-release animated features this year, that must explain the small number of nominees, but just barely.)
Pixar Snubbed By Golden Globes For First Time
Over the last few years, the amount of controversy surrounding the Golden Globes, and its voting body, the Hollywood Foreign Press (HFPA), has grown to great heights. Although awards season is always accompanied by a healthy dose of controversy, there is no awards show that embodies that more than the Globes. Serious allegations have been tossed at the HFPA in the past and that has certainly come to taint its reputability. On the list of questionable decisions made by the voting group for the upcoming awards is this year’s snubbing of Pixar.
The Pixar Perspective on 2013 and Beyond
Nine months after this article kickstarted the Pixar Perspective column, it’s worth taking stock of the calendar year 2013. (With just three weeks left before we start 2014, it is, of course, possible that there may be more news on the horizon, but doubtful.) In that first editorial, the topic was the now-common choice among writers to pit Pixar Animation Studios against Walt Disney Animation Studios, only a few weeks after Brave won the Best Animated Feature Oscar over the apparent underdog, Wreck-It Ralph. A similar inter-company battle may occur once again, as Frozen and Monsters University are assumed to be among this year’s top challengers for the prize, along with another film being distributed under the Disney banner, Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises. And unlike even Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen has performed extremely well to this point; it’s too early to know for sure, but it could easily wind up as the highest-grossing feature in the Disney animated canon since The Lion King. Never mind, of course, that Monsters University, despite not being as widely embraced by critics, made nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars worldwide. For yet another year, Disney has “beaten” Pixar, in some people’s minds.
Pixar Faces A Challenging Road This Awards Season
It’s the most controversial time of the year. Awards season is officially underway, with various organizations beginning to announce nominations and even winners for what they consider to be the year’s best films. Where awards shows go, controversy follows closely behind, as bold choices are often made for which films, filmmakers, and actors are celebrated. On Monday, the Los Angeles branch of Association Internationale du Film d’Animation, also known as ASIFA-Hollywood, released their list of nominees for the Annie Awards, an event that many consider to be the biggest night for film and television animation. Pixar’s Monsters University and Toy Story OF TERROR! landed a combined 17 nominations. Find more details about what is in store for Pixar this awards season after the break!
The Pixar Perspective on ‘The Blue Umbrella’
A fairly common trend over the last few years has been a growing frustration among some people at the idea that the Christmas season is beginning earlier and earlier. Holiday music starts playing well before Thanksgiving, decorations go up near the beginning of November, and so on. In the world of film, the closest parallel is that of awards season (or the ever-expanding length of the summer movie season). There was a time when the Oscars were presented near the end of March. These days, it seems more likely that the Oscars ceremony might soon come near the beginning of February or beforehand. That, of course, has a ripple effect: every other awards body announces its victors before the Oscars, with some organizations starting, this year, as early as two weeks from now. But even the Oscars are jumping the gun, at least in terms of announcing some features and shorts that have made it onto their shortlists and longlists. Those lists include potential nominees for Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short. For Pixar, there’s good and bad news within those lists.
‘Monsters University’ Submitted, ‘The Blue Umbrella’ Fails To Advance In Race For Academy Awards
As the calendar turns to November, the awards race begins to heat up in Hollywood. Although the most notable of the awards shows, the Academy Awards, does not take place until March 2014, every studio aims to stay in front of the pack, especially as the holiday season is often stacked with films looking to capture the attention of critics and awards voters. Monsters University will be competing with Disney Animation’s Frozen to receive nominations in the Animated Film category, both of which the Academy stated have been submitted by Disney for contention. However, the Academy has also announced that Pixar’s 2013 short, The Blue Umbrella, did not make the shortlist of animation shorts advancing to the next stage and will not be competing for an Oscar.
