Which of these animated films take the fifth spot in the Oscar race?

by Nathaniel R

Our final Oscar predictions continue with Animated Feature. Though we've learned never to wholly trust consensus in this race (that shocking omission of The Lego Movie!) we're assuming that Spider-Verse, Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs and Ralph Breaks the Internet will be nominated. One spot is free. 

In Ye Olden Times (i.e. a couple of years ago before Oscar opened this category up to all voters, instead of just animators) we'd assume that that would be it for the mainstream titles and we'd also get Early Man (animators love Aardman films) or Japan's Mirai in there. But under the new rules we have to assume that The Grinch is a strong possibility since it's a massive hit (#7 of the whole year). But will anyone really put it at #1 on their ballots with Incredibles 2 (even more successful and more beloved) right there for the taking? Ruben Brandt Collector is memorable and stands out from the foreign pack in aesthetics but a qualifying release only was a bad move on Sony Pictures Classics part and it likely won't have been widely seen enough to garner many votes. Early Man didn't have the impact that Aardman films usually have (it's the lowest grossing of their features) so we're going with Mirai since it hails from a respected filmmaker, it honors Japan's robust industry, and it was boosted by that Golden Globe nod.

Related:
Animated Oscar chart | Reviews of Other Longshot Contenders Not Listed Above: MFKZ, Tito and the Birds, On Happiness Road, The Night is Short Walk on Girl, and Lu Over the Wall

Doc Corner: Final Oscar Predictions – A Big Year For Box Office Hits?

Editor's Note: We're turning over the final nomination predictions in Documentary to our resident doc expert. Take it away, Glenn -- Nathaniel R

By Glenn Dunks

It’s always somewhat impossible to gauge just what direction the documentary branch will go in. In the past, they have often been criticized for ignoring big non-fiction hits while the next year they're equally criticized for just nominating the documentaries that people have heard of and ignoring the smaller titles that haven’t the benefit of famous subjects or popular themes (WWII, for instance).

2019 was an unusually spectacular year at the box office for documentaries with four titles all reaching seven figures at the cash registers of cinemas in the US. It has been great to see documentaries enter the zeitgeist in such a way. Unfortunately that has meant that most awards organizations have defaulted to a standard list of those top four box office champs: Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Free Solo, RBG and Three Identical Strangers. Maybe with Netflix’s Shirkers or Hulu’s Minding the Gap thrown in for good measure. Will Oscar follow suit?

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Would you rather?

Would you rather?

... slide down a waterfall with Chloe Sevigny?
... vandalize a classroom with Asa Butterfeld?
... ski with the Hemsworth brothers?
... get sessy with Amandla Stenberg?
... eat your feelings with Sam Smith?
... go backstage at a Versace show with Luke Evans?
... hang with Glenn Close & Timothée Chalamet?
... or have lunch with Lily Tomlin & Debi Mazar?

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide.

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Nicole Kidman Rules the Box Office

Nicole Kidman has the top two movies in the nation today, with the surprise hit The Upside and the endless hit Aquaman. She's also got Destroyer in the top ten platform films of the moment. In short she never stops working and sometimes audiences come out for it. Listen, you could argue that she has nothing to do with the success of Aquaman or The Upside but why would you want to? Come live in our better world where the public lines up in droves and says "one for the new Nicole Kidman, please!".

More box office commentary after the jump...

Weekend Box Office (Estimates) (January 11th-13th)
W I D E 800+ screens	PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide
1 The Upside $20.3 on 3080 screens *NEW*	1 🔺 Free Solo $812k on 154 screens (cum. $12.3)  Review ❤️

2 Aquaman   $17.3 on 3863 screens (cum. $287.9) Review, Podcast	2 🔺 Uri: The Surgical Strike $631k on 101 screens *NEW*

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Beauty vs Beast: Why Must EVERYTHING Be a Contest?

Jason from MNPP here - I'm sure if Faye Dunaway were to come to The Film Experience and stumble upon us wishing her a happy 78th birthday here today with a Mommie Dearest themed edition of our "Beauty vs Beast" poll she'd roll her eyes in that certain way she does that makes you quake in your slippers and utter some four-letter word... and that's just why we love her. She may not love the movie that turned her knobs up to Full Camp and then snapped right off, but we do, and we always will - her stratopheric take on Joan Crawford has the stuff of myth about it, as if she squeezed heaven and hell like a wet rag and drank down every last drop right before they said "Action!" That said... Joan's a tough vote all the same! 

survey tools

PREVIOUSLY I think this is the first time this has ever happened, y'all - we ended with a tie on last week's poll! Mahershala Ali's performance in Green Book & Rami Malek's turn as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody came down 50/50. So I guess we'll go with the most magnaminous comment then... said lylee:

"Recognizing these were both problematic movies, I still really enjoyed them - and these performances. Fine acting by a couple of fiiine men. I pick Don because I have a soft spot for brilliant pianists and Freddie seems like he'd get exhausting after a while."