April Foolish Predictions: What will happen in 'Toon Town'?
Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 12:50PM by Nathaniel R
Will the new emotions in "Inside Out 2" impress voters?
Last season, we finally saw another hand drawn film take the Best Animated Feature Oscar with The Boy and the Heron emerging triumphant. Will we have another rarity this year or will Oscar voters return to their Pixar and/or American CG habits? Each year we root for the underdogs in this category since great studios like Laika and Cartoon Saloon have yet to take home an Oscar. Sadly, neither of those companies will have a film ready this year. Still, we'll dream that it will prove a truly competitive year no matter what emerges. That always makes it more exciting.
Herewith our April Foolish predictions...
(alpha order)
INSIDE OUT 2
Taking a lesson from their Toy Story franchise Pixar is once again letting the central human child age while their non-human counterparts stay the same. In this sequel Riley becomes a teenager and new emotions inside her head are introduced. Will the fresh character dynamics be enough to get around this branch's resistance to sequels?
LORD OF THE RINGS: WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM
While not technically a sequel, here is another franchise entry. Set 200 years before The Hobbit, this film takes on the legend of King Rohan's battle for Helm's Deep. Anime television director Kenji Kamiyama leads the team here.
THE MOST PRECIOUS OF CARGOES
THE MOST PRECIOUS OF CARGOES
Oscar winner Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) is in production on a traditionally drawn animated feature based on a book about a Jewish child thrown from a train by his parents on the way to a death camp. A woodcutter and his wife discover the child. Will it be ready in time?
PIECE BY PIECE
PIECE BY PIECE
This one sounds interesting. Oscar winning documentarian Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom) helms this biopic of sorts about Pharrel Williams. It's told through legos.
WILD ROBOT
WILD ROBOT
Will the fourth time be the charm for Chris Sanders? He's been nominated for Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon, and The Croods but he's yet to win. His latest is about a robot stranded on an island who protects a baby goose.
Check out the Best Animated Feature Oscar chart to see what else might be in play...
Prediction Index (thus far)
Reader Comments (3)
I'm most excited for Chomet's new film. Fingers crossed that it gets into some prestigious festival, maybe even Cannes.
Looks good, but I would keep an eye out for Ultraman: Rising seeing how that is a Netflix animated movie, which those now a days get Oscar nominations. Also it will be released in USA on June 14 the same day as in Japan.
Three Australian Animated Features have just been announced for the Sydney Film Festival - 200% WOLF(featuring the voices of Jennifer Saunders and Samara Weaving), THE SLOTH LANE (featuring Leslie Jones) and MY FREAKY FAMILY (Australian-Irish co-production, based on the popular children's books The Floods, featuring Richard Roxburgh and Mirando Otto. Who knows if any of these will be good enough to be embraced internationally.