{"id":594203,"date":"2026-07-19T23:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T23:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/594203\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T23:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T23:37:10","slug":"the-animation-industry-still-hopes-for-hollywoods-full-respect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/594203\/","title":{"rendered":"The Animation Industry Still Hopes for Hollywood’s Full Respect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Years after Guillermo del Toro declared \u201canimation is cinema<\/a>\u201d at the Oscars, the industry remains a redheaded stepchild of Hollywood.<\/p>\n

A recent Variety<\/a> report with several professionals in the industry discuss how animation\u2019s perceived in the west. At the same time it\u2019s viewed as a \u201cbabysitter\u201d medium mainly meant for entertaining kids, it\u2019s been a reliable moneymaker for decades. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie\u00a0is currently 2026\u2019s only movie to make over $1 billion<\/a>, while\u00a0Inside Out 2<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Zootopia 2<\/a>\u00a0have been big hits for Disney. But as one animator told the outlet, the success has also been \u201cfrustrating\u201d to see: a studio will brag about an animated film\u2019s financial and awards success, then \u201cturn to people who\u2019ve worked here forever and say, \u2018We don\u2019t need you anymore.’\u201d<\/p>\n

While Pixar president Jim Morris rightfully noted animation\u2019s \u201cpropping up a lot of studios right now,\u201d chief creative officer Pete Docter had a different view. He said animation can\u2019t not be considered \u201cfilms for kids\u201d when most of said films are \u201cfunny, goofy, [and] a little bit like babysitter material. We could step our game up [as an industry].\u201d However, Docter doesn\u2019t expound on what \u201cstepping up\u201d would entail, and it\u2019s worth acknowledging Pixar\u2019s backtracking on more specific themes and perspectives<\/a> in recent years\u2014and his views<\/a> on such walk backs.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, Laika\u2019s solution is making people see their movies as simply movies. Chief marketing officer David Burke told Variety the Wildwood\u00a0studio doesn\u2019t actively sell their films as animated, instead trusting \u201c[our] audience to find our movies, irrespective of the medium. They defy categorization.\u201d Granted, this may also be due to the studio having a number of live-action projects<\/a> in development, but Burke\u2019s general point stands: to avoid stigma, animated movies can (and should) be promoted like they\u2019re just regular movies.<\/p>\n

For those interested in animation, a true sign of the medium\u2019s respect would be if an animated movie won \u201cBest Feature\u201d at the Oscars. That\u2019s a tall order, and an idea professionals are split on. Morris wants animation employees to be eligible come Oscar voting time, while Jorge Guti\u00e9rrez<\/a> believes live-action movies have a natural edge and \u201ctoo many Academy members\u201d automatically treat animated fare as something to endure.<\/p>\n

You can read the full story here<\/a> for more insight on what Hollywood\u2019s animation arm is thinking.<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Years after Guillermo del Toro declared \u201canimation is cinema\u201d at the Oscars, the industry remains a redheaded stepchild…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[746,1887,18,117,19,17,327,29194,99120,26098],"class_list":["post-594203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-animation","tag-disney","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-pixar","tag-the-super-mario-galaxy-movie","tag-zootopia-2"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594203","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=594203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}