HFPA Reveals Animated Feature Nominees for Golden Globes

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is healing from the controversy that barred the prestigious Golden Globes (goldenglobes.com) film and television awards from broadcast, and screen fans will once again get to watch as the year’s best talent are recognized on TV — just in time to celebrate their 80th edition.

Ahead of the Globes’ return to NBC on Tuesday, January 10, the HFPA today announced its nomination picks, including the animated feature film contenders. Nominations were read out this morning on NBC’s Today by George Lopez and his daughter, Mayan Lopez, stars of NBC comedy Lopez vs. Lopez. Facing off for the animation title are:

Best Motion Picture – Animated

• Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. Directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson (Netflix)
• Inu-Oh. Directed by Masaaki Yuasa (GKIDS/Science SARU)
• Marcel the Shell With Shoes On. Directed by Dean-Fleischer Camp (A24)
• Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. Directed by Joel Crawford (DreamWorks/Universal)
• Turning Red. Directed by Domee Shi. (Disney/Pixar)

In addition, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was also nominated for Best Score (Alexandre Desplat) and Best Original Song (“Ciao Papa”, Music by Alexandre Desplat; lyrics by Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro).

Last year, NBC canceled the 2022 Golden Globes broadcast due to heavy industry criticism sparked by allegations against the HFPA of corruption and the revelation that the organization had no Black members. The Association responded a few months later by announcing the addition of 21 new members of diverse backgrounds.

Since the Golden Globes introduced its animation category, Pixar has proven the winningest studio with nine wins, with sibling studio Disney adding three to their combined domination of these awards. Paramount/Nickelodeon Animation, DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Animation and LAIKA have all scored one animated feature Globe each.

So far, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and Dean Fleischer-Camp’s Marcel the Shell with Shoes On have emerged as the frontrunners in the end-of-the-year critics award flurry. Marcel has won the National Board of Critics and the New York Critics Circle prizes while Pinocchio just won the L.A. Film Critics prize for Best Animated Feature of the year this past weekend. Missing in the Golden Globe list this morning were other favorite titles such as Henry Selick’s much-praised Wendell & Wild, Disney’s Strange World, Pixar’s Lightyear, DreamWorks’ The Bad Guys, Cartoon Saloon/Netflix’s My Father’s Dragon, Netflix’s The Sea Beast and Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10 1/2.

GKIDS was able to land the indie/Japanese feature spot with Inu-Oh, Masaaki Yuasa’s well-received 14th century animated musical, based on the Tales of the Heike, which centers on the friendship between a dancer born with unique physical characteristics, and a blind musician. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was released in Japan this past May, and holds at 90% scored on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Golden Globes have a strong correlation record for best animated feature with the Academy Awards, only misaligning their top choices four times since both races have been part of the awards season animation circuit.

Best Animated Feature: Oscars vs. Golden Globes