Disney Takes Home Six Oscars

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

March 28, 2022

 

It may not have been the most surprising story of the evening, thanks to the Will Smith/Chris Rock dust up on stage, but it was perhaps a bit disappointing that the Disney entertainment empire only took home six statues over five films for the 23 Oscar categories for which they were nominated.

Among their winners at the 94th Academy Awards?

 

• BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Encanto – Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino, Clark Spencer

(Walt Disney Animation Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; currently on Disney+)

 

• BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

The Eyes of Tammy Faye – Jessica Chastain  

(Searchlight Pictures; watch with “add-on” at Hulu)

 

• BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

West Side Story – Ariana DeBose

(20^th Century Studios; currently on Disney+)

 

• BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Cruella - Jenny Beavan

(Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; currently on Disney+)

 

• BEST DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) –

Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein

(Searchlight Pictures/Onyx Collective; currently on Hulu and Disney+)

 

• BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

The Eyes of Tammy Faye – Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh

(Searchlight Pictures; watch with “add-on” at Hulu)

 

Sadly, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who missed the ceremonies because he kindly stayed away from the Dolby Theatre due to his wife’s positive COVID test, did not gain membership into the select EGOT fraternity last night. (EGOT members are those who have succeeded in winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.  Miranda is missing only the Oscar statue.) Miranda was nominated for best original song for "Dos Oruguitas" from Encanto. 

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

 

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Disney Cashes In With Oscar Nominations

 by Ray Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

February 8, 2022

 

Oscar nominations are a win-win for any movie studio. That is, it’s a win from the perspective of artistic recognition (if one considers the Oscars to provide this), and it’s a win commercially, as films with Academy Award nominations often experience some additional life at the box office, via Blu-Rays or digital purchases, and/or streaming eyes.

 

Disney got a lot of win-wins by racking up 23 Oscar nominations, as announced on Tuesday (February 8) morning.

Courtesy of The Walt Disney Company

The big winner for Disney in terms of nominations was Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Among its seven nominations were nods for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Ariana DeBose, and Best Directing for Spielberg. I certainly hope that these nods give West Side Story some added attention with audiences. This marvelous film deserved much more at the box office.

 

Nightmare Alley earned four nominations, including one for Best Picture.

Courtesy of The Walt Disney Company

In addition, Jessica Chastain earned a Best Lead Actress nomination for The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

 

On the animation front, Encanto, Luca and Raya and the Last Dragon all received nominations for Best Animated Feature Film. So, it wound up that Disney produced three of the five films nominated in this category.

Courtesy of The Walt Disney Company

As for Marvel superheroes, Sony’s (and Marvel’s) Spider-Man: No Way Home received a nomination for Best Visual Effects. As a Sony release, this is not counted among Disney’s 23 nominations. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings also received a Best Visual Effects nomination, as did Free Guy. If one counts Spider-Man, Disney/Marvel claimed three of the five nominations for visual effects.

 

The Academy Awards will be televised on Disney’s ABC network on the night of March 27.

 

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Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant novels and assorted nonfiction books. Have Ray Keating speak your group, business, school, church, or organization. Email him at raykeating@keatingreports.com.

 

The views expressed here are his own – after all, no one else should be held responsible for this stuff, right?

 

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Keating has three new books out. Vatican Shadows: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel is the 13^th thriller/mystery in the Pastor Stephen Grant series. Get the paperback or Kindle edition at Amazon, or signed books at www.raykeatingonline.com. Past Lives: A Pastor Stephen Grant Short Story is the 14th book in the series. Again, get the paperback or Kindle edition at Amazon, or signed book at www.raykeatingonline.com. And order the 15th book in the series What’s Lost? A Pastor Stephen Grant Short Story – grab it at Amazon.com or signed editions at www.raykeatingonline.com. 

 

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Disney’s Big Oscar Night: “Soul” and “Nomadland” Honored at 2021 Academy Awards

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

April 26, 2021

 

The 93rd Academy Awards have come and gone, and Disney’s Soul and Nomadland were the company’s big winners this year under its Pixar and Searchlight brands.  

Held at Union Station Los Angeles and the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center, with appearances by winners videoed in from points around the globe, the Oscar ceremonies took place last night, April 25, 2021, honoring movies released in 2020. 

 

Aired on the Disney-owned ABC network, the company also snuck in a lavishly done new trailer for the upcoming Disney and Steven Spielberg film remake of West Side Story. 

Given the repercussions of this year’s pandemic, it is no surprise that Disney and Netflix, the two streaming powerhouses, were the big winners this year.

 

The Oscars for Disney under its Pixar partnership both belonged to Soul. Soul was released on Disney+.

 

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM WINNER:

SOUL

Pete Docter and Dana Murray

 

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE) WINNER:

SOUL

Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste

 

And if you include the Searchlight film Nomadland among the Disney family of properties (Disney acquired Searchlight in 2019), you can chalk up a few more wins in the Disney column.

Chloé Zhao, who took home her statue for Nomadland,  became the second woman to win the category, as well as the first woman of color and the first woman of Asian descent to win for Best Director. Nomadland was released on Disney’s Hulu platform, as well as in theaters.

 

BEST PICTURE WINNER:

NOMADLAND

Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao, Producers

 

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE WINNER:

Frances McDormand

NOMADLAND

 

DIRECTING WINNER:

NOMADLAND

Chloé Zhao

 

Best picture and best animated feature film – it can’t get much better than that for Disney and its movie studios.

 

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Beth Keating is a regular contributor to DisneyBizJournal.

 

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DisneyBizJournal.com on the Oscars

by Ray Keating

Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

February 9, 2020

The Oscars air tonight on ABC, and Disney has an impressive 23 nominations. Here are a few items from DisneyBizJournal to read and get you in the right frame of mind...

• “Will Fox Finally Bring Disney a Best Picture Oscar?” by Ray Keating– DisneyBizJournal.com– It’s surprising given its many successes over 90-plus years, but Disney has never won a Best Picture Oscar. In fact, it’s even more striking that coming into the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony, Disney previously had only five films nominated for Best Picture. Read at  

https://disneybizjournal.blogspot.com/2020/02/will-fox-finally-bring-disney-best.html

• “Animated Disney at the Oscars: The List of Winners and More” by Ray Keating – DisneyBizJournal.com – The first animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards was Disney’s 1991 Beauty and the Beast. A decade later came the Best Animated Feature Oscar, and domination by Disney. Read at  

https://disneybizjournal.blogspot.com/2020/02/animated-disney-at-oscars-list-of.html

• “Disney’s All-Time Oscar Count Heading Into the 92^ndAcademy Awards” by Ray Keating – DisneyBizJournal.com – Heading into Sunday night’s Oscars, Disney already has a staggering number of Oscar wins under its belt. Read at  

https://disneybizjournal.blogspot.com/2020/02/disneys-all-time-oscar-count-heading.html

• “Joker” vs. “Avengers: Endgame” by Ray Keating– DisneyBizJournal.com– “Joker” is the Oscars’ kind of superhero movie. How so? Well, it’s not really a superhero film. Meanwhile, “Avengers: Endgame” gets ignored. Read at 

https://disneybizjournal.blogspot.com/2020/01/joker-vs-avengers-endgame.html

• “Disney Cashes in on Fox Acquisition at Oscars” by Ray Keating - DisneyBizJournal.com –The Walt Disney Company’s Fox acquisition paid off quite nicely in terms of Oscar nominations. Get the rundown. Read at  

https://disneybizjournal.blogspot.com/2020/01/disney-cashes-in-on-fox-acquisition-at.html

• “Will the Oscars Finally Recognize Superhero Films? The Lord of the Rings Example” by Ray Keating – DisneyBizJournal.com – Can Avengers: Endgame lay waste to Hollywood’s Oscar bias against superheroes? The recent announcement regarding telecast dates of the Oscars got me thinking about whether or not Avengers: Endgame might finally have the power to break through the Academy’s opposition to superheroes. If there’s hope on this front, it can be found in The Lord of the Rings movies. Read at  

https://disneybizjournal.blogspot.com/2019/06/will-oscars-finally-recognize-superhero.html

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Will Fox Finally Bring Disney a Best Picture Oscar?

by Ray Keating

Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

February 8, 2020

It’s kind of surprising given its many successes over ninety-plus years, but Disney has never won an Academy Award for Best Picture.

In fact, it’s even more striking to note that coming into the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony tomorrow (February 9) night, Disney previously had only five films nominated for Best Picture. 

The last one was Black Panther released in 2018, and before that was Toy Story 3 (Disney/Pixar) released in 2010, Up (Disney/Pixar) in 2009, and Beauty and the Beast from 1991. Both Up and Toy Story 3, though, did win Best Animated Feature awards. 

Prior to these, one has to go back to Mary Poppins (1964) for a Disney Best Picture nomination.

But that’s it. This year, though, courtesy of the Fox acquisition, Disney has two Best Picture nominations – Ford v Ferrari and JoJo Rabbit. So, buying Fox already has increased Disney’s Best Picture nominations from five to seven – a 40 percent increase - and opened the possibility for the Oscar.

Indeed, could Disney finally get a Best Picture Oscar on Sunday night, and if so, given that each of these movies were Fox productions, would a win be considered a true “Disney” win?

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Animated Disney at the Oscars: The List of Winners and More

by Ray Keating

Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

February 7, 2020

The first animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards was Disney’s 1991 Beauty and the Beast.

Disney and then Disney/Pixar led a renaissance in film animation starting with The Little Mermaid in 1989, followed by Beauty and the Beast, and then a string of notable movies, from Aladdin (1992) to Toy Story 2 (1999).

This strong of movies clearly pushed the Academy Awards to introduce the Best Animated Feature in 2002 for the 2001 movie year.

Here are the Disney and Disney/Pixar winners for Best Animated Feature by movie release year:

2003: Finding Nemo

2004: The Incredibles

2007: Ratatouille

2008: WALL-E

2009: Up

2010: Toy Story 3

2012: Brave

2013: Frozen

2014: Big Hero 6

2015: Inside Out

2016: Zootopia

2017: Coco

So, out of the first 18 Best Animated Feature Academy Awards, Disney won 12.

And this year, Toy Story 4 has been nominated. It will square off with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, I Lost My Body, Klaus, and Missing Link.

That’s all pretty darn impressive. But this shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, at the Academy Awards on February 23, 1939, Walt Disney was presented an honorary Oscar for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was the first feature-length animated film in color and with sound. Yeah, Disney has been at this animated things for a long time.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Disney’s All-Time Oscar Count Heading Into the 92nd Academy Awards

by Ray Keating

Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

February 6, 2020

The Walt Disney Company stands just behind Netflix in terms of the number of Academy Award nominations this year heading into Sunday night’s 92^nd Academy Awards.

As we noted before, Disney has 23 nominations, one behind the 24 for Netflix. So, it could be a big night for House of Mouse, which would add to an already staggering tally of Oscar wins.

In Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia, Dave Smith noted that as of 2016 (for 2015 movies), Disney had won 113 Academy Award. And by the way, 32 of those were won by Walt Disney alone, which stands as a record that likely will never be approached, never mind broken.

By our tally, Disney won four Oscars at the February 2017 Academy Awards, two in 2018, and four more Oscars last year. That’s a total of 123 Oscars for the studio.

Will Disney’s number of Oscar winners grow on Sunday night, and if so, by how many?

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solutionand the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

“Joker” vs. “Avengers: Endgame”

by Ray Keating

Commentary

DisneyBizJournal.com

January 23, 2020

Joker is the Oscars’ kind of superhero movie. How so? Well, it’s not really a superhero film.

At the Academy Awards on the evening of February 9th, we’ll find out how well Joker performs in terms of what trophies it takes home. But with 11 nominations, including one for best picture, Joker already ranks as the biggest winner for a ... well ... superhero-related movie.

The problem is that Joker takes arguably the most well-known comic-book super-villain – the Joker – and makes him barely related to the DC universe. The movie itself is a strangely engrossing – though a convoluted story with lots of holes and a lack of originality – and dark take of one man’s descent into mental illness, violence and evil. But there’s nothing that really ties in with the superhero genre, nor is the character formidable in any way that super-villains tend to be, or even must be – including, well, the Joker.

Meanwhile, Avengers: Endgame, which hit theaters in April, served as a capstone for the first 22 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie provided nearly everything one might want from such a film (though it had its shortcomings as well), and it earned high praise from both critics and moviegoers. (See our review here.)

The audience not only was treated to the best of superheroes in Endgame, such as courage, sacrifice, loyalty, and compassion, but also to powerful resolutions for key characters, as well as to one of the most formidable villains in the history of superhero movies in Thanos. (See our take on Thanos here in our Infinity War review.)

In June, I wrote about Endgame and the Oscars, comparing it to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, with The Return of the King winning best picture, best director (Peter Jackson), and a total of 11 Academy Awards at the 2004 Oscars. I concluded: “Endgame and the entire MCU truly rank as a monumental achievement in cinematic history – one that deserves recognition by the Academy. And that recognition should come not just in the form of a best picture nomination for Avengers: Endgame, but in the actual awarding of the best picture Oscar. It made sense for The Return of the King and it does for Avengers: Endgame.”

Nonetheless, Endgame only earned one nomination for visual effects.

Am I surprised that the Academy disagreed? Not at all. But I am disappointed. Meanwhile, I would argue that Black Panther (2018) remains as the lone superhero movie to be nominated for best picture – with Joker being, again, something other than a superhero movie. So, in reality, the Oscar bias against superhero films persists.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Disney Cashes in on Fox Acquisition at Oscars

by Ray Keating

News/Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

January 14, 2020

The Walt Disney Company has cashed in nicely on its Fox acquisition in terms of Oscar nominations.

The battle between Hollywood titans – new and long established – was on display with the announcement of Oscar nominations, as Netflix – the new in Hollywood – garnered 24 nominations, and Disney – the long-established in Hollywood – came in number two with 23 nominations. One gets the feeling that the Netflix-vs.-Disney battle will be playing out in all kinds of ways for years to come, from the number of streaming subscribers to the luring of talent to the number of award nominations and wins. Although innovation and technology offer no guarantees to either Netflix or Disney.

As for Disney’s nominations, key big ones were thanks to Fox. For example, Disney’s two Best Picture nominees were both Fox products – Ford v Ferrari and JoJo Rabbit. (Check out our review of Ford v Ferrari in which we concluded: “Perhaps there will be some nominations at Oscar time that will give this worthy movie an extra boost at the box office.”) Scarlett Johansson also earned one of her two actress nominations for Jojo Rabbit. 

In total, Ford v Ferrari earned four nominations, and Jojo Rabbit came in with six. Toss in a nomination for sound mixing for Ad Astra (see our review of this solid film), and one for original song for Breakthrough, and 12 of the Disney nominations came thanks to Fox.

Among other notables, John Williams’ score for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker received a nomination, and Toy Story 4was nominated for best animated feature (see our review for a different take on Toy Story 4). For good measure, Avengers Endgame, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and The Lion King were all nominated for best visual effects.

Stay tuned. We’ll have more to say on Endgame in the next DisneyBizJournal piece on the Oscars.

The Oscars will be awarded on Sunday evening, February 9^th.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solution and the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

Will the Oscars Finally Recognize Superhero Films? The Lord of the Rings Example

by Ray Keating

Commentary

DisneyBizJournal.com

June 14, 2019

Can Avengers: Endgame lay waste to Hollywood’s Oscar bias against superheroes?

The Academy Awards just announced the date for its 2022 Oscars show, and confirmed the dates for the 2020 and 2021 shows. I understand that February 9, 2020, for the upcoming Oscars seems pretty far off, and we still have plenty of movies to watch in 2019, but this announcement got me thinking about whether or not Avengers: Endgame might finally have the power to break through the Academy’s opposition to superheroes.

If there’s hope on this front, it can be found in The Lord of the Rings movies. The first in that film trilogy – The Fellowship of the Ring – hit theaters in December 2001, followed by The Two Towers in December 2002. Both films were nominated for Best Picture, but failed to win, only taking home technical and music Oscars. And then came The Return of the King in December 2003. All three movies, by the way, were filmed together, and then released over those three Decembers.

It was noted at the time that Academy voters were holding off on awarding the big Oscars until the last movie in the trilogy. However, that was no slam dunk. It needs to be pointed out that no true fantasy movie had ever won Best Picture. In fact, Fellowship and Two Towers were, it can be argued, the only other true fantasy films ever nominated for Best Picture to that point.

So, at the 2004 Oscars, The Return of the King broke through, winning Best Picture, Best Director (Peter Jackson), and a total of 11 Academy Awards.

There are parallels when it comes to Avengers: Endgame, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Released in April 2019, Endgame not only was the second part of an epic story that began in Avengers: Infinity War (April 2018), but it brought to a close this part of the MCU that covered a breathtaking 22 films, starting with Iron Man in May 2008.

Also, no superhero movie has ever won a Best Picture Academy Award, with Black Panther (February 2018) becoming the first movie in the genre to be nominated for Best Picture. And there have been assorted snubs in terms of nominations over the years, in particular with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008).

And of course, there is the critical and box office success of Endgame itself (see the DisneyBizJournal review) as the crescendo of these 22 interlocking movies that included very few misses. 

Also, if the Academy sees wisdom in nominating Endgame, and it is considered a serious contender, people might actually watch the February 2020 Oscars show, as opposed to the show’s long decline due to, in large part, a lack of interest among most of the movie-going public for the films nominated.

Endgame and the entire MCU truly rank as a monumental achievement in cinematic history – one that deserves recognition by the Academy. And that recognition should come not just in the form of a Best Picture nomination for Avengers: Endgame, but in the actual awarding of the Best Picture Oscar. It made sense for The Return of the King and it does for Avengers: Endgame.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

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The CIA, Black Panther and Wakandan Tech

by Ray Keating

Commentary

DisneyBizJournal.com

February 28, 2019

You just never know who might be watching ... the Oscars? According to a report from CNN, the CIA was tweeting about Black Panther and the tech of Wakanda during the Academy Awards telecast.

It was noted that the CIA tweets were “part of the CIA's ‘Reel vs. Real’ series, which seeks to demystify the CIA's mission by comparing what's seen on screens to reality.”

Among the topics from Black Panther touched on by the CIA were holograms: “They’re real-life hot tech right now & as they improve, intel practitioners in the future could incorporate holographic displays for operations or holographic projections to illustrate situations to the President or other policymakers.”

And on vibranium, the CIA tweeted: “The #vibraniumin Black Panther’s suit protects him from kinetic damage, & vibranium sneakers are both super-quiet & amazing shock absorbers for jumping. Those would be great for spies, right? Too bad vibranium isn’t real.”

In fact, there’s more on the CIA and Black Panther. Check out the CIA’s deeper dive on Wakandan tech, based on questions posed to, as the CIA explained, “one of the CIA’s most innovative scientists. We will call her ‘Rebecca’ Rebecca not only has a background in the traditional sciences, but also in emerging technologies and digital innovation.”

What about the invisibility tech that hides Wakanda from the world? The CIA’s Rebecca notes:

Wakanda keeps itself hidden from the rest of the world by a sort of invisibility cloak that covers the whole nation, and presumably blocks all sorts of radiation, not just light. In real life, I think spy satellites would have picked up the heat, radio waves, microwaves, or other signs of a fully-industrialized country otherwise. (Apparently the internet somehow gets through for the remote-control cars though). 

The bad news is that this is physically impossible. The good news is that with vibranium and super-science it’s plausible, and it’s already being done in our real world on a much smaller scale. 

  You can use lenses to bend light around small objects, like a person’s hand. The lens approach could scale up to hide a vehicle, but only from the person looking through the lens, and only from human vision. You can also use nanotechnology, like Black Panther’s suit, to hide other nanotechnology or something up to the size of a cell. So in theory, Shuri could make every bit of the Panther Habit invisible, but I doubt she wants to. 

  To hide a nation from the rest of the world, you’d need a combination of metamaterials (material engineered to produce properties that don’t occur naturally) to affect the magnetic components of light and other radiation. Vibranium has interesting magnetic properties that Shuri uses in the kimoyo beads and EMP beads, so a cloak laced with it could give you that. This has to be a physical cloak, though, something like researchers at Boston University and Tufts University made out of silk to block the terahertz band (a wireless communication frequency found between radio waves and infrared light).

 Well, there you go – a mix of Disney, Wakanda and the CIA. Who says spies aren’t fun?

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant novels, with the three latest books being Reagan Country: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel, Heroes and Villains: A Pastor Stephen Grant Short Storyand Shifting Sands: A Pastor Stephen Grant Short Story. He can be contacted at raykeating@keatingreports.com.