The 2021 Award Season Dossier

A Great Year for Wolves, Lost Souls, Lunar Trips and More

A great year for wolves, lost souls, lunar trips and more.

By Michael Mallory

Zoinks, what a year! COVID-19’s forced separation of studios and theaters during much of 2020 has meant that most of Hollywood got its action on the download, seriously affecting box-office returns. Despite changes in distribution, however, the year is a remarkably strong one for Oscar contenders, particularly among foreign films. In fact, 2020 might be the first year animated films from other countries outnumber American contenders.

A major player in the animated feature sweepstakes this time around is Netflix, which in two years has gone from threatened exclusion from the Oscar table to serving as a lifeboat for the industry overall. Meanwhile, a subtle but potentially game-changing question looms in the Academy’s new diversity criterion for any Best Picture contender. Since animation traditionally has a better track record of diversity than live action, will this mandate make it easier for an animated feature to slide up into the top category? Conventional wisdom holds that the creation of the Best Animated Feature category in 2001 closed the door to a Best Picture nod for any animated film, though the 2021 ceremony might tell us a different story.