{"id":218053,"date":"2025-12-06T05:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T05:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/218053\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T05:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T05:43:10","slug":"kpop-demon-hunters-zootopia-2-lead-animated-oscar-contenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/218053\/","title":{"rendered":"‘KPop Demon Hunters’ & ‘Zootopia 2’ Lead Animated Oscar Contenders"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFlow\u00a0winning 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\u2014Pixar\u2019s\u00a0Inside Out 2\u00a0and DreamWorks Animation<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0The Wild Robot\u2014the dialogue-free film about a cat\u2019s survival in a post-apocalyptic world further proved that animation isn\u2019t just for children.<\/p>\n

\n\tBeyond 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\u2019s\u00a0KPop Demon Hunters<\/a>\u00a0to highly anticipated sequels like Disney\u2019s Zootopia 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"KPOP<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018KPop Demon Hunters\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNetflix<\/p>\n

\n\tKPop 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\u2019s songs, \u201cGolden\u201d, became so popular that it topped the Spotify charts and was nominated for four Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"IN<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018In Your Dreams\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNetflix<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film started streaming in June. By July it was Netflix\u2019s most watched original animated film and by September,\u00a0KPop Demon Hunters\u00a0became the most watched title on the streamer. Although the most popular title doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tOther than\u00a0KPop Demon Hunters, the popularity of which came as something of a surprise to even the filmmakers, Netflix also has Erik Benson and Alex Woo\u2019s\u00a0In 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.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"'Arco'\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Arco<\/a>\u2018 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNeon\/courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo French-language films are also in the mix this year, with\u00a0Arco\u00a0and\u00a0Little Am\u00e9lie 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\u2019 mother in the English-language dub, the film\u2019s hand-drawn animation style has been consistently compared to the style of Hayao Miyazaki, who won just two years ago with\u00a0The Boy and the Heron.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile\u00a0Arco\u2019s style may draw inspiration from Japan animation,\u00a0Little Am\u00e9lie or the Character of Rain\u00a0takes its own approach to animation while exploring Japanese culture through the eyes of a young Belgian girl. Adapted from Am\u00e9lie Nothomb\u2019s novel\u00a0The Character of Rain, and directed by Ma\u00eflys Vallade and Liane-Cho\u00a0Han, the story follows Am\u00e9lie (Lo\u00efse 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tComing from Japan, director Mamoru Hosoda, who was nominated in 2018 for\u00a0Mirai, has a new film in contention as well.\u00a0Scarlet\u00a0is a reimagined version of Shakespeare\u2019s\u00a0Hamlet, 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\u00a0Belle, which was itself inspired by\u00a0Beauty 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.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"'Zootopia<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Zootopia 2\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tDisney has two films in the race this year,\u00a0Zootopia 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the 2016 Oscar winner, and\u00a0Elio, Pixar\u2019s 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\u2019s ambassador and must navigate a new and strange world.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs with almost every Pixar film,\u00a0Elio\u00a0once 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the other hand,\u00a0Zootopia 2\u00a0was 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\u2019s new single from the film \u201cZoo\u201d, which she wrote with Ed Sheeran and Blake Slatkin, along with a music video. Shakira also wrote single \u201cTry Everything\u201d for the first film and performs in both films as pop star Gazelle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tA follow-up to the 2016 Oscar-winner, also directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard,\u00a0Zootopia 2\u00a0sees 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\u2019Snake (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.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough the first film was beloved and netted an Oscar, that\u2019s not usually an indicator for a repeat performance. So far, the only animated film series that has won multiple Oscars is\u00a0Toy Story, which won with\u00a0Toy Story 3\u00a0in 2010 and\u00a0Toy Story 4\u00a0in 2019. Many other sequels of Oscar-winning films have been nominated, but are audiences looking for something new again, just like with\u00a0Flow?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Flow\u00a0winning the Best Animated Feature Oscar came as a bit of a surprise last year for a few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[746,85112,118045,18,117,19,17,4923,327,26098],"class_list":{"0":"post-218053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-animation","9":"tag-arco","10":"tag-awardsfeature","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-kpop-demon-hunters","16":"tag-movies","17":"tag-zootopia-2"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115671034217713182","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}