Flow winning the Best Animated Feature Oscar came as a bit of a surprise last year for a few reasons. Not only did it beat two highly grossing films—Pixar’s Inside Out 2 and DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot—the dialogue-free film about a cat’s survival in a post-apocalyptic world further proved that animation isn’t just for children.
Beyond that, the Latvian film showed that voters are looking for something new and unique, not just whatever seems to gain the most popularity. This year has an interesting assortment of frontrunners, from new properties like Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters to highly anticipated sequels like Disney’s Zootopia 2.
‘KPop Demon Hunters’
Netflix
KPop Demon Hunters, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, follows K-pop girl group Huntr/x, who are secretly demon hunters, as they face off against rival boy band the Saja Boys, who are secretly demons. Drawing on Korean influences from ancient mythology to the more current K-pop, the film quickly gained popularity due to the visual style and catchy songs. One of Huntr/x’s songs, “Golden”, became so popular that it topped the Spotify charts and was nominated for four Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year.
‘In Your Dreams’
Netflix
The film started streaming in June. By July it was Netflix’s most watched original animated film and by September, KPop Demon Hunters became the most watched title on the streamer. Although the most popular title doesn’t guarantee a win, the current wave of popularity for K-pop and Korean culture has definitely aided the film in finding a massive fanbase and a lasting presence in this awards season.
Other than KPop Demon Hunters, the popularity of which came as something of a surprise to even the filmmakers, Netflix also has Erik Benson and Alex Woo’s In Your Dreams. Following a girl named Stevie (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) and her brother Elliot (Elias Janssen), the story finds the pair travelling through the world of dreams to find the Sandman, who has the ability to grant wishes. While Stevie aims to wish for the perfect family, their adventure teaches her to appreciate that she has more than what she wants.
‘Arco‘
Neon/courtesy Everett Collection
Two French-language films are also in the mix this year, with Arco and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain. The former follows a mysterious, rainbow suit-clad boy named Arco (Oscar Tresanini) from the year 2932, who accidentally travels back in time to 2075 and meets a girl named Iris (Margot Ringard Oldra) who helps him find his way home. Directed by Ugo Bienvenu and produced by Natalie Portman, who also voices Iris’ mother in the English-language dub, the film’s hand-drawn animation style has been consistently compared to the style of Hayao Miyazaki, who won just two years ago with The Boy and the Heron.
While Arco’s style may draw inspiration from Japan animation, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain takes its own approach to animation while exploring Japanese culture through the eyes of a young Belgian girl. Adapted from Amélie Nothomb’s novel The Character of Rain, and directed by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han, the story follows Amélie (Loïse Charpentier), a girl born in a vegetative state to a Belgian family living in Japan, who breaks free of her condition on her second birthday. Her transformation leads her to believe she is a god to those around her, with the film exploring heavy themes like death and war through the eyes of a small child who is coming to terms with her place in the world.
Coming from Japan, director Mamoru Hosoda, who was nominated in 2018 for Mirai, has a new film in contention as well. Scarlet is a reimagined version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, replacing the lead prince with a medieval, sword-fighting princess named Scarlet (Mana Ashida), who sets out on an adventure through time and space to avenge the death of her father. After failing and being fatally injured, she encounters a man from the present day who shows her what her life could be like without the rage of vengeance. Taking a page from his last film Belle, which was itself inspired by Beauty and the Beast, Hosoda decided to opt for 3D animation with more details than traditional CG to give the film a unique look that stands out.
‘Zootopia 2’
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Disney has two films in the race this year, Zootopia 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the 2016 Oscar winner, and Elio, Pixar’s sci-fi adventure. The latter, directed by Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi, follows an 11-year-old boy named Elio (Yonas Kibreab) obsessed with aliens. After making contact and being transported to their world, he is mistaken for Earth’s ambassador and must navigate a new and strange world.
As with almost every Pixar film, Elio once again pushes the boundaries of animation technology to create a space setting called the Communiverse, which used a new lighting system and virtual lenses to capture the scenes. While the film itself did not meet box office expectations, the reviews were generally positive and most original Pixar films do end up with an Oscar nomination.
On the other hand, Zootopia 2 was already considered one of the top picks for the Oscar even before it premiered. One factor that attributed to the excitement was the early release of Shakira’s new single from the film “Zoo”, which she wrote with Ed Sheeran and Blake Slatkin, along with a music video. Shakira also wrote single “Try Everything” for the first film and performs in both films as pop star Gazelle.
A follow-up to the 2016 Oscar-winner, also directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, Zootopia 2 sees rabbit cop Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her fox partner Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) teaming up to solve a new case, this time involving a conspiracy and a snake named Gary De’Snake (Ke Huy Quan). The pair find their partnership put to the test as they go undercover, explore new areas of Zootopia and try to uncover the newest conspiracy.
Although the first film was beloved and netted an Oscar, that’s not usually an indicator for a repeat performance. So far, the only animated film series that has won multiple Oscars is Toy Story, which won with Toy Story 3 in 2010 and Toy Story 4 in 2019. Many other sequels of Oscar-winning films have been nominated, but are audiences looking for something new again, just like with Flow?