Sphere O' Gold '16: Golden Globe Nominees Out

The appetizer to the Oscars, the Golden Globes... Every December, every late winter...

The best animated feature line-up is surprisingly a little diverse this time around, considering that in the past, the animated category had mostly left out foreign entries. Here, we have the Swiss-French film My Life as a Zucchini, a stop-motion film that GKIDS locked up. Supposedly weighty and not afraid to go down some dark avenues, I see this film easily getting into the race for the gold man now. In the past, I thought it had a good chance at getting in. Now, it could very well be up for an Oscar nomination despite some pretty rough indie competition.

The next three were expected. Kubo and the Two Strings is up, as well as Zootopia and Moana. What I didn't expect was Sing...

That good, huh? From everything I'm hearing, it's a well-rounded, well-made comedy musical that seems to be leagues ahead of Illumination's post-Despicable Me output. The film is not even out here in the states, and it's already making some waves. I'm actually pretty excited for it, the newest trailer really makes it look like it could be fun and toe-tapping. But among the best of the year? I'll have to see about that!

Finding Dory, unsurprisingly, is out of the race. Not the first time a Pixar film - sequel or not - didn't make it at the Globes.

I think this time, it has more to do with the amount of truly high quality features that came out this year. Finding Dory, being very good, perhaps had small chances at getting into the final five. I have a feeling the same will go for the Oscars, as they - in 2013 - didn't hesitate to squeeze out Monsters University, and nominate middling fare like The Croods and Despicable Me 2. I know it's not chic to think Monsters University is anything above mediocre, but I felt it was very good, and actually better than the three mainstreamers of 2013 that were nominated for Best Animated Feature Oscar. Yes, that includes Frozen.

Finding Dory's miss is a bit disappointing, but at the same time there's so much good stuff this year that I'm not distraught over it. While Finding Dory was a personal film for me, I can handle it being out of the race. If I feel it's better than Sing, then I'll have questions for the Globe nominators.

Anyways, this has little bearing on my overall predictions for the Oscars. Since they're nominating more and more foreign works, I have a feeling that Sing won't get in, instead we'll get two indies. For a while, I was thinking April and the Extraordinary World and The Red Turtle would be the ones to get in, but now I think Zucchini has a lot of potential. Phantom Boy and Your Name still aren't out of the question. The three mainstreamers are obvious at this point: Zootopia, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Moana...

I'll eat crow if one of them doesn't make it.

If you check out what the critics' circles are saying, you'll find a bunch of different results. So far...

Zootopia has three wins: Critics' Choice, NY Film Critics, and the AFI. The latter has the film on a Top 10 best of the year list... Yes, an animated movie on a best of the year in general list. That's awesome.

Kubo and the Two Strings has a whopping four: National Board of Review, Atlanta Critics, Washington D.C. Critics, and Boston Online Critics. Wow!

The LA Film Critics chose Your Name, while the European Film Awards went for My Life as a Zucchini.

This means nothing, though. Remember back in 2012, none of the critics circles named Brave the best animated film of the year. The film won the Oscar and the Golden Globe, despite not being one of the year's stronger contenders. Now, you can argue that times have changed and that the Academy probably has new rules that require them to actually watch the movies before picking, but who knows. The Oscars, despite the supposedly new rules, still gave Inside Out the gold man at the last ceremony. Not a dig on Inside Out, it's a fantastic film, but I still get the sense that they didn't watch the others, or decided to just give it to the safe option - a mainstream, not to mention Disney-released film. The same applies for Big Hero 6's win for Best Animated Feature 2014.

Anyways, right now, it seems like Zootopia and Kubo are the darlings. One's from Disney, the other is from LAIKA, who has yet to win an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Or a Golden Globe for that matter. ParaNorman was completely snubbed by the Globes in 2012, they gave the nom to Hotel Transylvania instead.

So I have a feeling the Globes are going to be predictable. Either Zootopia or Moana takes it home.

As for the Oscars, Zootopia is probably still locked to win.

Now because Moana's a musical, we're hearing some things here and there. Only 'How Far I'll Go' is in the running, alongside Trolls' 'Can't Stop the Feeling'. A pleasant pop song at best, I would've removed it to make room for another Moana song. If you were to ask me what Moana song I would give the award to, it would be 'I Am Moana (Song of the Ancestors)'... That's just my personal pick, though.

As for best animated feature, if I had to choose between the two Walt Disney Animation Studios films, I'd easily pick Zootopia. Moana's great, but it's comfort food. Zootopia does bold new things and its script is a little more consistent. Disney Animation should be rewarded for that, should they take anything home - be it spheres or statues.

Now throw in Kubo and the Two Strings, I would be okay with either Zootopia or Kubo and the Two Strings winning. Both are high points for modern mainstream feature animation.

Let the games begin!

Weekend Box Office Report: Small Stumbles

With Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them expectedly topping the chart, a few movies have seen some pretty good-sized drops.

Trolls is currently in third place, and it's a smidgen behind Doctor Strange. Both movies dropped over 50% this weekend, the Marvel sorcerer seeing an unsurprisingly harsher drop. Trolls collected $17 million (estimate) for the weekend, and is at $116 million here in the states. Overseas numbers are a little sluggish right now, as the picture's still below $300 million worldwide. Next weekend, I think, will also be something of a test for Trolls. It could either hold up quite nicely against Moana, or get hit a little hard.

Even films outside the Marvel and DreamWorks wheelhouses dropped pretty hard this week, so all-around it's just an okay week for holdovers. I expect Fantastic Beasts to see a bit of dipping next week, as Moana is sure to be open big.

Storks fell off 60%, it has crept to $71 million here and $175 million worldwide. This is the final set of laps, methinks. I wonder how much higher it'll go overseas. It has officially made 2 1/2x its budget. I hope Warner Bros. is happy with it. Kubo and the Two Strings is pretty much done, I doubt it'll make much in the two markets that haven't gotten it yet: Poland and Bulgaria. $47 million domestically and $69-71 million worldwide it is.

Finding Dory is still juicing in some small venues, total is pretty much the same here. $1,026 million worldwide, still a few clicks above Zootopia. It's the year's biggest animated film. The Blu-ray cover for the film states that it's the biggest, too... But only at the domestic box office. The covers for these things are made and printed looooong before they hit stores, so I guess at the time, Disney bean counters weren't sure if the fishies would overtake the animals. In a way, that's quite exciting.

See, I thought the Pixar sequel to the beloved hit from 13 years ago would've easily been this year's animated champion. While Finding Dory is the champion, it literally eked by Zootopia to claim the trophy. No, Disney Animation's little animal movie was the little animated movie that could. Projections said it would do good but no exceptionally, it did more than just that. Reminds me of how Disney wasn't so sure about an animal picture some 22 years ago. It just proves that old William Goldman quote... "Nobody knows anything... Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work."

Some thought Trolls would open with a meager $25-30 million and finish up with $90 million at best, that's clearly not the case, three weeks in.

Anyways, prime time will truly be in full swing by next weekend.

Weekend Box Office Report: Billion Dollar Dory, 'Storks' Still Flies

Estimates for now, weekend actuals to be posted on Monday...

Another relatively quiet weekend, but some things are happening here and there...

Storks fell 37%, and is now sitting at $50 million domestically and $104 million worldwide. Certainly not the drop Open Season - the best we can compare this movie's run to - had on its third weekend, as that was at $59 million domestically by that point. Again, Storks cost $70 million, it's not too far from doubling that. Should it make above, around say, $180 million worldwide, it should be a success for Warner Bros. I've been watching Storks in particular, because I think it could set a new precedent.

Next in line is Sausage Party, which rose 139% because of an expansion, apparently extra footage was added to the film's ending. My theater didn't get this re-release. It's at $97 million domestically, $129 million. Quite the hit.

Notably, Finding Dory jumped 10 spaces up and rose 136%. Still at $484 million domestically, it has finally topped $1 billion worldwide. Amazing that it'll finish behind an all-original animated movie that came out a few months before it...

We did it... A calendar year where two all-animated pictures topped $1 billion worldwide...

Right behind it is The Secret Life of Pets, falling only 26% and landing at $365 million here, $848 million worldwide. Illumination really, really scored with this one. Watch Pets 2 be a potential candidate for highest grossing animated feature.

Kubo and the Two Strings is pretty much disappearing, falling 54%, the climb to $50 million may be a bit of a struggle from here on out. Even then, if it doesn't reach it, it still had incredible legs. It's at $63 million worldwide.

The Wild Life still lingers, going up 12%, but $8 million will be this one's final domestic gross. $30 million worldwide.

And so we wait for the trolls...

Weekend Box Office Report: 'Storks' Eases, 'Dory' Near $1 Billion

It looks like Storks will be all set.

As said before, the film cost $70 million to make, so not too much is riding on the back of this pretty well-liked animated comedy. It fell a good 36%, ending up at $38 million domestically. Worldwide, it's at $77 million, so it's slowly but surely picking up steam. If it follows Open Season's ten-year-old trajectory, then the picture will end up with $77 million domestically. Overseas grosses should get it up to a good near-$200 million total worldwide, which Warner Bros. should be satisfied with, which I elaborated upon here.

Right now, Storks is the only caricature animation film flying around the Top 10. Kubo and the Two Strings fell 58%, it looks like the crawl to $50 million will be slow, but that will still be 4.1x its opening gross. Worldwide, it's at $61 million. The Blu-ray is coming in a little over a month.

The Secret Life of Pets continues to linger and linger and linger. It fell 36%, it's at $364 million domestically and $834 million worldwide. Just wow... Sausage Party fell 66%, still below $100 million domestically, but it doesn't matter, the budget was tiny on this one. $124 million worldwide, 6 1/2x the budget. Titmouse's adults-only feature Nerdland is hitting theaters thanks to Samuel Goldwyn Films, and perhaps this months-old movie got picked up because of how well the food film did.

Finding Dory looks to finish with around $485-486 million when all is said and done, but it surged in Germany, bringing the worldwide gross up to $986 million. It is now officially getting closer, and as Cartoon Brew noted, this will be the first year where two animated features (again, of the caricature/not same-as-real-life variety) have cracked the big billion at the worldwide box office. Yes, this year has been pretty darn good to the medium...

Little to no movement on Ice Age cinque, The Wild Life fell 25 places, lost 1,200+ theaters, and dropped 87%. The picture looks to barely crack $8 million domestically, much worse than Norm of the North. I hate to think what Lionsgate will do to Rock Dog this coming February... But what matters is, the microbudgeted movie made it back worldwide.

What say you?