Forum - View topicYes, Disney is submitting Spirited Away for nomination...
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4555 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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OscarWatch.com has posted Disney's "For Your Consideration" ad for Spirited Away for "Best Animated Feature". Of course, Disney is also submitting both of their big animated films this year, Lilo and Stitch and Treasure Planet... if Spirited Away is nominated, it will probably keep my "Best Animated Feature" pick, Lilo and Stitch, out of the nominations altogether, since Dreamworks' Spirit will almost certainly be nominated, and I've heard that Treasure Planet is the one that is more likely to be nominated out of the two "Disney" Disney films since it's directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, who also directed the major hits The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, whilst Lilo and Stitch (the best Disney feature since, at least, The Lion King IMHO) is Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders' (also the voice of Stitch) first animated feature as directors.
EDIT: Thanks to "Meier" in the RottenTomatoes.com forum for pointing this out. EDIT II: Then again, in Lilo and Stitch's favour (or should that be "Lilo and Stitch'es favour? The plural of "stitch" is "stitches" but do possessives also add the extra e following the "ch" sound?), Disney seems to have paid big, big bucks to have a "For Your Consideration" ad on the outer cover (the cardboard advertising one over the real cover you often find on the trades, especially for themed issues) of The Hollywood Reporter's November 8-10th issue featuring an article on the possible contenders for "Best Animated Feature", so maybe Disney is pushing L&S harder than the people who say Disney will focus most of their FYC money pushing Treasure Planet expected. Gorgeous pic, too. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15600 |
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Until this is mentioned at www.oscars.org , the official site of the Academy Awards, I'll take it with a grain of salt.
Edit: And submitting it isn't the same as it making the list, or it even being nominated. |
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Tenchi
Posts: 4555 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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I think it's pretty clear from my post that I know submitting it and it actually getting nominated are two different things entirely, I was just posting the link to the ad for the naysayers and conspiracy theorists that doubted that Disney was even going to submit it... if they spent money advertising it in The Hollywood Reporter, obviously they're submitting it, unless it's all a big conspiracy to make anime fans think it's been submitted, I suppose.
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GATSU
Posts: 15600 |
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Well I relent on my earlier comment of legitimacy, since nausicaa.net seems to confirm it as well. And I apologize about being antsy about the nomination thing. I'm just skpetical of an organization that nominated Jimmy Neutron. Anyway, there are still 3 more submissions to go before the Award can actually take effect, so titles like Metropolis, the Powerpuff Girls movie, and 8 Crazy Nights need to be sent in pronto. And even then, the Academy can only choose 3 movies to be nominated, which means Disney's gonna have to work incredibly hard to bribe Academy members this year.
Now I'll respond to your other comments. "since Dreamworks' Spirit will almost certainly be nominated" No it won't. It bombed. It's all about Ice Age if there's any competition besides Disney. Beyond this, my feeling is that Disney's going to bank all their money on Lilo and Stitch because: 1)Treasure Planet's going to make money, just because it's an animated family film being released during the holiday season, 2)Spirited Away and Treasure Planet are probably just being used as bargaining chips to insure that Disney has total domination over the nominees this year, 3) Lilo and Stitch fit the family friendly aesthetic that got the Academy to award Shrek, nominate Jimmy Neutron, and reject the Spirits Within and VHD: Bloodlust. "I was just posting the link to the ad for the naysayers and conspiracy theorists that doubted that Disney was even going to submit it..." I never doubted they'd submit it. (As my second point indicates.) I just doubt they'll do anything to convince the Academy members to nominate it. But if Spirited Away does get nominated and even(Dare I say it?)wins, I predict the following: Hollywood studios will buy-or convince Japanese studios to produce-Ghibli knock-offs, just like the success of Pokemon, Gundam, and DBZ have convinced networks to buy or air their own knock-offs, which will still leave mature anime like Jin Roh in the dust and continue to add to the stereotype that "animation is only for kids". So anything Ghibli-like will end up getting wide distribution, while anything like Perfect Blue will still be given a limited release. Edit: By "Ghibli-like", I mean anything which looks like Totoro, not Mononoke. One more edit: On a side note, if it does get nominated, I hope Steve Martin-or whoever's covering Best Animated Film-doesn't make some sweeping negative generalization about anime for cheap laughs. |
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Isamu
 Posts: 33 Location: UK |
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the Spirits Within was rejected because it completly bombed at the box office and was pretty damn crap.
The Oscars are bollocks anyway,come on how the hell did LOTR not get best movie,best director,best book adaption and all the others it missed out on.And look how long it took Spielberg to get an Oscar.Dont even get me started on Starwars.Ignorant fools.Lets just hope they can get things right this time around,Spirited Away,Two Towers,Peter Jackson please. Sorry,thats my angry rant over. |
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Slim Shinji
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 263 |
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Disney may be banking on Lilo and Stitch, but I think they may end up shooting themselves in the foot if they're only submitting Spirited Away to keep Spirit and Ice Age out of the competition. Spirited Away is the best reviewed movie of the year, even moreso than Lilo, and all the Hollywood types who've seen it love it to death. Though I'm slightly more partial to Stitch, my money's on Miyazaki.
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GATSU
Posts: 15600 |
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All a movie needs to get noticed is to be nominated for anything, even if it doesn't win. Because they always show clips of the contenders at the awards ceremony, and that's enough publicity in itself. OTOH, I'm so cynical, I wouldn't be surprised if Disney still gave Spirited Away a limited release, even if it won an award. :)
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Tenchi
Posts: 4555 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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Actually, after I heard some people in my animation classes say nice things about it, I rented Jimmy Neutron and, while it is no Monsters, Inc., which I adored, or even a Shrek, which was quite funny in an in-jokey sort of way but far inferior to Monsters, Inc. story-wise IMHO though, obviously, the Academy voters felt differently, it was a pleasant enough diversion that was nowhere near as bad as those trailers made it look. I would have chose Atlantis over Jimmy Neutron to be nominated myself, but I'm not an Academy voter and it wasn't even submitted by Disney. Waking Life was shunned, I think, because of the ambiguity as to whether or not filmed actors distorted using Photoshop filters counts as "animation" from an Academy qualifying standpoint (yes, it is "animation" from a dictionary standpoint), Final Fantasy was technically very good... technically, and Jin-Roh wasn't even seen by nearly enough critics for it to have stood a ghost of a chance at getting nominated.
Is Columbia/TriStar going to waste money on "FYC" ads for Metropolis, which was pretty to look at but not worthy of scratching either Lilo's or Chihiro's butts from a story standpoint (well, that's just my opinion, and, yes, I am only talking about the Rintaro film, not the Tezuka manga, which I have never read)... same deal as Jin-Roh, really: not enough critics have even seen it (though it did get heavy coverage in a few important papers, I do remember) for it to have much of a chance. Unless C/TS wants to submit it and fail for tax write-off purposes, I suppose. As for the Powerpuff Girls, that is an object lesson for the people that complain about Disney's treatment of Ghibli films theatrically that "wide release + marketing = $$$" isn't always true, and PPG was a pretty decent film and it had a large built-in fanbase from the TV show to boot; shouldn't have failed, but did.
Actually, Spirit didn't pull in Shrek-like numbers, but it didn't exactly bomb, costing $80 million but making back about $75 million at the domestic box office and $30 million overseas, though the stickling point is does the $80 million include the marketing and the cost of making the prints? I hope your right about Disney pushing Lilo & Stitch more than Treasure Planet, and, surprisingly, I don't disagree about the "barganing chip" point. Unlike a lot of the Ghibli enthusiasts who seem to be popping champagne corks as though the Oscar is already signed, sealed and delivered, I don't think that it is a "sure thing" that it will win, and I don't even think it is a "safe bet" that it will even be nominated, although I think the odds for that are about even. For anyone that may be offended by my own preference for Lilo & Stitch, let me say this: Spirited Away winning over Lilo & Stitch would still be much better outcome as far as I'm concerned than Shrek winning over Monsters, Inc. was this year. I think both films are more evenly matched, my preference for Lilo & Stitch over Spirited Away is by much, much closer margin than my preference for Monsters, Inc. over Shrek, and I might even concede that Spirited Away might be more the sort of animated film that Academy voters would prefer than Lilo & Stitch.
I know you're no fan of Disney, but by "naysayers and conspiracy theorists" I was talking about the far more extreme anti-Disney opinions/conspiracy theories I see elsewhere other than this specific message forum, where even the Disney-haters are a bit more "cool headed". EDIT: Oh, sorry for the tiny line... the (square bracket)SIZE=0(closing square bracket) command makes 0 point text on this Forum... on others it just makes the text a little bit smaller. Last edited by Tenchi on Mon Nov 11, 2002 12:47 am; edited 1 time in total |
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GATSU
Posts: 15600 |
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"Is Columbia/TriStar going to waste money on "FYC" ads for Metropolis, which was pretty to look at but not worthy of scratching either Lilo's or Chihiro's butts from a story standpoint (well, that's just my opinion, and, yes, I am only talking about the Rintaro film, not the Tezuka manga, which I have never read)"
Metropolis and Lilo and Stitch are two different movies. It's like comparing apples and oranges. "As for the Powerpuff Girls, that is an object lesson for the people that complain about Disney's treatment of Ghibli films theatrically that "wide release + marketing = $$$" isn't always true, and PPG was a pretty decent film and it had a large built-in fanbase from the TV show to boot; shouldn't have failed, but did." It was up against MIB 2. Even people at Time Warner admitted they failed to market it properly. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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I need to see Treasure Planet, but from the looks of the trailers, it's Titan AE-esque sci-fi action fare, and won't be quite as substantial, content-wise, as Lilo & Stitch. I thought Lilo & Stitch was heart-warming and hilarious, and if anything deserves the best animated film award, it's that one. Spirited Away doesn't really deserve the award.. it's a good movie but the message it's sending and the characters are nowhere near as potent or relatable as in Lilo & Stitch. I personally fear that Spirited Away will get nominations and/or win the award simply because Miyazaki made it and the Academy wants to throw him a bone before he kicks off. I hate it when that happens.
And yeah, I was upset about Jackson losing out last year, but let's be realistic; an action-adventure fantasy franchise picture is going to lose every time to whatever heavyweight drama about either A) the mentally handicapped or B) epic-level man pulls himself up by his bootstraps is out at the time. Not that I didn't like the past 10 or so best picture winners (A Beautiful Mind notwithstanding), but Lord of the Rings has about as much chance of winning the best picture Oscar as, say, Scooby-Doo. It'll probably sweep the technical awards again, though. Perhaps best score. I loves my Oscar talk. -Zac |
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Tenchi
Posts: 4555 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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Does anyone know what the exact profile of the Academy voters is, specifically how many of them are critics and/or film writers/reporters and how many of them are industry types? I plead ignorance there. If it's mostly critics, or at least the "important" ones, I would not be surprised at all if Spirited Away wins, if most of the other "important" critics admire Miyazaki the way Ebert does, but if it is more industry types than critics, would they give a rat's butt about Miyazaki, at least if they're not animators?
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LordByronius
ANN Columnist
 Posts: 861 Location: Philippe for America! He is five. |
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OBOY OSCAR TALK!11!
Y'know, it's ironic, really. The folks who have been the hardest critics of Spirited Away have been anime fans. Personally, I hope it wins. As much as I loved Lilo & Stitch, it's a pretty standard, unspectacular film. The ending was cheap, I think, in trying to stash in a big action chase sequence into a film that didn't really require one. And the near-credits sequence is so blatant in it's "THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER" message that I think I winced. Regardless, though L&S's chance of nomination is pretty definite. The jury is still out on Treasure Planet, but I predict it to be a box-office bomb, or at least a dud. (Any other film metaphors I forgot? Good.) Just because it's a PG rated family film released during the holidays does not insure success - face it, the film is going up against freakin' Harry Potter. And the older kids, who may have already seen Harry Potter but don't really feel like watching a Disney kids' flick, will probably be more drawn to the Adam Sandler cartoon released the same week. And, uh, Sprited Away. Yay. I love the movie. Really. It's completely and utterly unique. I hope Disney pushes the film farther than just the Best Animated Feature category, because really, the category simply exists as a sort of door prize for those really good films that exist out there that so happen to be animated, and therefore unable to compete with the contemporary live-action films in any other category. And no, I don't think it will be nominated for ANYTHING else other than Animation (although there has been some talk about Miyazaki in the "Best Director" nod). But, c'mon Disney, y'all should at least try. You guys let it die at the B.O., I think you owe it something. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15600 |
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"Y'know, it's ironic, really. The folks who have been the hardest critics of Spirited Away have been anime fans."
That's cus it was such a cop-out. It's like one epic Japanese after-school special, instead of something meaningful. "Personally, I hope it wins. As much as I loved Lilo & Stitch, it's a pretty standard, unspectacular film." I never saw the actual movies, but I knew Disney jumped the shark when they had to introduce characters from other more successful movies(like Beauty and the Beast) in the L&S ads in order to sell Lilo and Stitch. "Just because it's a PG rated family film released during the holidays does not insure success - face it, the film is going up against freakin' Harry Potter. And the older kids, who may have already seen Harry Potter but don't really feel like watching a Disney kids' flick, will probably be more drawn to the Adam Sandler cartoon released the same week." You have a point. Disney's really f**ed up their holiday release schedule, putting up Gangs of New York against both the second Lord of the Rings movie and Catch Me If You Can. "And no, I don't think it will be nominated for ANYTHING else other than Animation (although there has been some talk about Miyazaki in the "Best Director" nod). But, c'mon Disney, y'all should at least try." I was hoping it would make Best Foreign Film, but Japan doesn't seem to care about submitting it. :( |
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Tenchi
Posts: 4555 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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I don't think there's anything too unusual about that: those of us that have seen lots of anime are the most easily jaded, so this sort of film doesn't have the same sort of novelty value to us. I think it's a very good movie, otherwise I wouldn't have paid to see it twice and I certainly will pay for the R1 DVD when it comes out, but, to me at least, it simply wasn't quite as special as Kiki's Delivery Service or My Neighbour Totoro... it just felt a lot more "random" and the situations Chihiro found herself in didn't really correspond too much to anything that might happen to kids in real life, unlike the adventures of Kiki (a young teenager trying to become independent and make friends in an unfamiliar city that isn't always friendly) or those of Satsuki and Mei (moving to the country, also trying to make friends, with Satsuki acting somewhat as a surrogate mother responsible for Mei as their real mother is in the hospital). Lilo & Stitch, on the other hand, was the best animated Disney feature since The Lion King and the relationship between Nani and Lilo did strike me as being not too much unlike that between Satsuki and Mei, except that the teenage Nani has to bear all of the responsibility for the raising of Lilo, who might be taken away from her custody. Okay, the ending of L&S might be a little too tidy, but the exact same criticism can be levelled at the ending of Spirited Away. Anyhow, I liked both films but liked Lilo & Stitch just a smidgen more, but which film is really "better" is entirely subjective to what someone thinks makes a film "better", and even in a hypothetical situation where SA wins and L&S doesn't, it will only reflect the subjective opinion of the Academy and won't change my position one iota. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7417 Location: Maine |
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That's odd, seems to me that if it was an "epic japanese after-school special" then it WOULD be something meaningful. What were you looking to get out of SA that you didn't get? Nothing about SA felt like a cop-out, IMO the whole thing just had a great feel and flow to it from start to end. Rather than feeling like a movie that had a begining, middle, and an end, I felt that walking in one end of the tunnel was the begining and everything that happened after coming out the other end was the ending. As soon as the trouble began, Chihiro never once lost sight of her mission and never once did the story sway off, everything that ever happened came back again at some point, even the smallest things like the gold, the soap, the medacine, even the train. Looking back it's easy for me to see how well crafted the movie really was. I'll be looking forward to how far SA gets in the nominations. Emerje |
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