When Toy Story was released in 1995 by Pixar, the animation game was revolutionized and therefore changed forever. And, it wasn’t just the technology side, but the way the storytelling went from a “cartoon” to an animated film with real emotion and themes that resonate beyond little kids. They strike a chord on a personal level for all ages.
Pixar broke the mold and that includes at the Academy Awards. Since they have introduced the Best Animated Feature category back in 2002, Pixar has won 11 trophies and been nominated 15 times. And in case you missed it, Soul is the most recent one to bring home the gold at this year’s Oscars. And now with their latest, Luca, out this Friday on Disney+, another nomination could be in their future.
They have set the bar when it comes to accomplishments, and while they’ve slipped up a few times, they are still king when it comes to animation. Their trophy shelf is pretty full. But, I have a feeling they will need a lot more space in the coming years. Check that. Decades.
- First Pixar film nominated for Best Animated Feature: Monsters, Inc.
- Fun Fact: It lost to Shrek, which means Pixar will go down in history as losing its first ever Oscar in a category it dominates to this day. The only other Pixar films to lose at the Oscars are The Incredibles 2 and Onward. The latter losing to Soul at this year’s Oscars – marking the first time in Pixar’s history of having two movies nominated for Best Animated Feature in the same year.
Speaking of being nominated, Pixar was represented in the Best Animated Feature category each year they released a movie until 2011.
- First Pixar film NOT nominated for Best Animated Feature: Cars 2 (Can you blame the Academy?)
- Fun Fact: Only four other Pixar creations have not been nominated: The Good Dinosaur, Monsters University, Cars 3, and Finding Dory.
Now, Pixar may have lost in the first year that Best Animated Feature was introduced, but they came back in 2003 and won it in back-to-back years. Then, they swept the Oscars from 2007-2010.
- First Pixar film to WIN for Best Animated Feature: Finding Nemo
- Fun Fact: Pixar was on a roll until 2011 when Cars 2 wasn’t even nominated and Rango claimed victory. When eligible, they have only not been nominated three times, all being sequels/prequels: Cars 2, Monsters University, and Finding Dory.
- Note: Neither The Good Dinosaur nor Cars 3 were nominated, but a fellow Pixar movie was released in their same year. Inside Out came out the summer before The Good Dinosaur back in 2015 while Coco came out in 2017 for Thanksgiving, after Cars 3. Inside Out and Coco went home victorious in their respective year.
- Writer/director Pete Docter is the only person to win in the Best Animated Feature category three times at the Oscars.
- Which movies helped him achieve such a thing? Up, Inside Out, and Soul
On a practically unheard of occasion, Pixar has managed to break from Best Animated Feature and into Best Picture. In the Academy’s 93 years, only three animated films have been nominated for Best Picture and two of them are from Pixar. This occurred mainly because the Academy has expanded the number of nominees from five to ten.
- The ONLY two Pixar films to be nominated for Best Picture: Up (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010)
- Fun Fact: The first animated movie to ever be nominated for Best Picture: Beauty and the Beast (1991).
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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