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If you’re not following Mike Flanagan on Letterboxd, you really should be. Recently, the famed horror director has logged Black Bag, Drop, Mickey 17, and Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar. The man not only has taste, but a pretty diverse palate as well. And honestly, it’s pretty cool to see what one of your favorite filmmakers is watching in real-time. Drop? Haha, I saw that.

While Mike Flanagan doesn’t review every movie he logs, when he does, it’s always worth the read. He’s a big fan of Lake Mungo and Kurosawa’s Pulse, a personal favorite of mine. While he principally logs horror movies, he’s just as keen on genre-adjacent fare, including Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning Pinocchio, now streaming on Netflix.

Per Netflix: During the rise of fascism in Mussolini’s Italy, a wooden boy brought magically to life struggles to live up to his father’s expectations.

Despite solid storytelling and decent animation effects, Transformers One couldn’t make a significant impact at the box office. With the fall in popularity of Michael Bay’s live-action films and the dull box office of the animated film, Paramount and Hasbro wouldn’t be so sure about their next steps with this franchise. A fan-made video will probably give them the answers they need.

Chris Hemsworth’s Orion Pax and Brian Tyree Henry’s D-16 in Transformers One | Credits: Paramount/Hasbro

A fan, who loved Transformers One, took inspiration from its final fight between Optimus Prime and Megatron and made a stop-motion video of the same. From the visual brilliance of the video, it is clear that the Transformers franchise should bring in Wes Anderson for their next film.

A Transformers stop-motion film like Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox is a brilliant next step A still from Wes...

Wes Anderson doesn’t talk a lot about his work in animation. Frankly, the more famous he gets, the less Anderson seems to enjoy doing interviews, which is why it was such a treat to sit down with the director of “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Isle of Dogs” at the Annecy Animation Film Festival last summer.

Over the course of a 90-minute master class, Anderson discussed what drew him to stop motion, how coming to the medium from a place of naiveté resulted in such distinctive-looking movies, and how animation in turn has informed his subsequent live-action work.

Unlike a number of other filmmakers, from Guillermo del Toro to Jacques Demy, who started out making rudimentary stop-motion films as kids, “I didn’t have any real ambition to do an animated movie until I’d made a few live-action movies,” Anderson explained. “It was something I sort of found my way into.

Fox's crime drama Prison Break ran for five original seasons in the mid to late 2000s and starred several actors with successful TV careers. Seeing the success of serialized shows like Lost and 24, the network had faith in the success of Prison Break. The series is set in prison and stars Dominic Purcell and Wentworth Miller as imprisoned brothers Lincoln Burrows and Michael Scofield. The former is accused of murder and sentenced to death, while the latter gets himself put in prison so he can break his brother out, believing he is innocent.

The thrills and originality established in Prison Break season 1 earned widespread acclaim. Though later seasons of Prison Break would struggle to return to a similar status, the series still had a strong fan base. The response from audiences prompted both a TV film based on the series' characters and a revival season in 2017. Many of Prison Break...

Producers for the 76th annual Emmy Awards have been editing the special “In Memoriam” segment to be featured on Sunday’s ABC ceremony. Since the most recent ceremony was delayed until mid-January, there are only eight months of TV legends who have died instead of the typical 12 months.

We have assembled a list of people below who might be selected. Members of the academy’s TV Hall of Fame are host and producer Phil Donahue, anchor and journalist Robert MacNeil, lighting designer Bill Klages and actor and comedian Bob Newhart. Some of the previous Emmy winners and nominees include previous academy president Leo Chaloukian, actor Bill Cobbs, actor Dabney Coleman, actress Shelley Duvall, actor and writer Joe Flaherty, director Jerry Foley, actor Louis Gossett Jr., actor Bill Hayes, actor James Earl Jones, host Peter Marshall, actor and comedian Martin Mull, actress Gena Rowlands, actor James B. Sikking, actor Donald Sutherland and actor Carl Weathers.

With "Avengers: Endgame" behind us and Chris Evans having retired from the Marvel Cinematic Universe until further notice, we can all agree that "Captain America: The First Avenger" is the best Steve Rogers solo film, right? From its character work to its action sequences and a rousing score by the legendary Alan Silvestri, director Joe Johnston's WWII adventure is a top-tier MCU movie. While it may lack the visceral melees that the Russo Brothers brought to its sequels, "The First Avenger" delivers more than enough whiz-bang thrills and Brooklyn attitude to make up the difference (that and its politics are much less confused than those of "The Winter Soldier").

Johnston's superhero picture also boasts what is still one of the McU's most distinguished casts, pairing Evans with Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Sebastian Stan, Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, and Dominic Cooper. Even Natalie Dormer, David Bradley,...

Andrea Bocelli performed a rendition of the song “Time to Say Goodbye” with his son Matteo Bocelli to accompany the Academy’s annual obituary section. Perhaps mindful of previous years, in which eagle-eyed viewers have jumped on omissions, this year’s “In Memoriam” — which began with footage of the recently deceased Russian opposition leader and subject of last year’s winning documentary Navalny — seemed comprehensive but at the same time not enough.

Related: ‘Oppenheimer’ Wins Best Picture Oscar & Six Others; Emma Stone & Cillian Murphy Take Lead Acting Prizes – Full List

Beloved actors Lance Reddick, Treat Williams, Apocalypse Now’s Frederic Forrest, Rocky’s Burt Young all relegated to a fine print reference at the end, along with such writers as Norman Lear and No Country for Old Men’s Cormac McCarthy. Also given afterthought treatment were Kenneth Anger, Terence Davies, Carl Davis, David McCallum, Sinead O’Connor and Paolo Taviani in...

At the Oscars 2024, there was a big surprise when The Boy and the Heron, the last animated movie by Hayao Miyazaki, beat out the hyped-up Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. People were scratching their heads, wondering why. Some folks even got into arguments about what makes a movie worthy of an award.

The Boy and The Heron

Then, to make things even more interesting, Chris Hemsworth, the guy who plays Thor in the Marvel movies, showed up to collect the award for The Boy and the Heron. It got everyone wondering why he was there and the film’s journey to the Oscar win.

The Oscar For Best Animated Feature Goes To The Boy And The Heron

The Boy and the Heron just snagged the Best Animated Feature Oscar! People are freaking out, and fans are totally stunned.

This flick, likely Hayao Miyazaki’s last hurrah, just clinched the top spot.

Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron,” likely his final film, has won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

It’s Miyazaki’s second Oscar after the Japanese animation master won for “Spirited Away” in 2002. Miyazaki is the most nominated director in the Best Animated Feature category (tied with Pete Docter) with four nominations, including for “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “The Wind Rises.” Miyazaki is now also the oldest winner in the category ever, at 83, with the previous record holder being Mark Gustafson for “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.”

“The Boy and the Heron” beat out an impressive field that included Pixar entry “Elemental,” Neon’s “Robot Dreams,” Netflix’s “Nimona,” and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” the follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” from 2018.

Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki were not present at the Academy Awards ceremony to accept the prize. Their Oscar was accepted on...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2023 Oscars Predictions:

Best Animated Feature

Weekly Commentary: Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” has garnered both the Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards, solidifying its status as a strong contender in the animated feature category. However, what’s intriguing is the absence of Miyazaki and his producer Toshio Suzuki at the award ceremonies,...

Pacific Rim has made a comeback on Netflix.

On the U.S. Top 10 chart for Netflix for the week of Jan .29 through Feb. 4, Pacific Rim was barely included by ranking at No. 10 (per Screen Rant). Leading the Top 10 for movies in the U.S. was the Jeffrey Dean Morgan film The Postcard Killings, which was followed by the recent Netflix movie The Greatest Night in Pop along with the Channing Tatum romance The Vow. Meanwhile, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is staying strong, sitting at No. 4 after spending ten weeks in the Top 10. David Ayer's war movie Fury rounds out the Top 5, with the rest of the list featuring, in order, The Hill, Deep Fear, Orion and the Dark, Tom and Jerry, and Pacific Rim.

Related Netflix's Pinocchio Co-Director Mark Gustafson Dies at 64, Guillermo del Toro Pays Tribute Guillermo del Toro pays tribute to Pinocchio co-director Mark Gustafson, who...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSRei.Tanaka Toshihiko’s Rei (2024)—the director’s debut feature, which he also produced and edited, and in which he acts—has won the Tiger Award in Rotterdam. Mark Gustafson, acclaimed animator and co-director of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022), has died at the age of 64. Del Toro calls him “a pillar of stop-motion animation—a true artist.”In response to an open letter signed by more than 200 film workers (which has since been taken offline) the Berlin International Film Festival confirmed that it has invited two far-right German politicians to the opening ceremony but avers it stands “against right-wing extremism.”Recommended VIEWINGVia Dolorosa.The second part of Le Cinéma Club's two-week spotlight on Oraib Toukan features her film Via Dolorosa (2021), now streamable on the platform.

Mark Gustafson, a stalwart feature of the animation landscape, and an Oscar winner for last year's Pinocchio, which he co-directed with Guillermo del Toro, has died. He was 64.

Born in 1959 in Portland, Oregan, Gustafson began his animation career in the 1980s and dabbled in several kinds of animation. His claymation work can be seen in the 1987 TV special Claymation Christmas Celebration, The PJs series starring Eddie Murphy and the TV special Meet The Raisins, starring the iconic California Raisins and a host of TV adverts.

He was also the animation director for Wes Anderson’s 2009 Oscar-nominated film Fantastic Mr. Fox and worked on the claymation segment of A Very Harold And Kumar Christmas.

But his crowning achievement was surely Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, on which he worked for years alongside the director. Now del Toro has taken to twitter to craft a touching tribute to his friend and fellow filmmaker.

Del Toro describes Gustafson – who worked on Fantastic Mr Fox and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas – as a ‘pillar of stop-motion animation’

Mark Gustafson, co-director of Oscar-winning animation Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, died on Thursday aged 64. The news was reported in the Oregonian, and Del Toro posted a tribute on social media, saying Gustafson was “a pillar of stop-motion animation [and a] compassionate, sensitive and mordantly witty man”.

Gustafson joined Del Toro on Pinocchio after a long career in stop-motion, having animated The California Raisins in the 1980s at the start of his career, and rising to be animation director on the Wes Anderson Roald Dahl adaptation Fantastic Mr Fox in 2009. He also acted as head of animation on A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas in 2011.

February has barely gotten underway, but 2024 is already hard at work taking beloved artists from us. Mark Gustafson, a pillar of stop-motion and the co-director of the Oscar-winning film "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio," sadly passed away on Thursday, February 1, at age 64, The Oregonian reports.

Though del Toro's name is in the film's title and his influence and style is in every aspect of the film, it was Gustafson who handled most of the day-to-day animation directing duties on "Pinocchio." His style and eye are as big a part of the reason for that movie's success as del Toro's.

Born on September 19, 1959, Gustafson had a long and celebrated career in animation that started back in the 1980s at The House That Claymation Built, when the animator worked at the celebrated Will Vinton Studios. It was there that Gustafson lent his talents to projects featuring the California Raisins characters, the claymation sequences in "Return to Oz,...

Mark Gustafson, the stop-motion specialist who won an Oscar this year for his work on Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, died Thursday. He was 63.

Del Toro announced the news Friday on social media, posting: “I admired Mark Gustafson, even before I met him. A pillar of stop motion animation — a true artist. A compassionate, sensitive and mordantly witty man. A Legend — and a friend that inspired and gave hope to all around him. … Today we honor and miss him.”

The Oregonian newspaper also reported his death.

Gustafson also worked on the stop-motion California Raisins characters early in his career and served as animation director on Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), another Oscar-nominated stop-motion film.

When del Toro took on the task of retelling Carlo Collodi’s 1883 fable about a wooden puppet who longs to be a real boy, he tapped Gustafson as his directing partner. The duo also earned BAFTA and Annie awards,...

Mark Gustafson, who won an Oscar last year for co-directing the animated feature “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” died on Thursday, The Oregonian reported. He was 64.

Guillermo del Toro, Gustafson’s co-director on the dark reimagining of the classic tale of Pinocchio, posted a tribute to him on Friday morning.

“I admired Mark Gustafson, even before I met him,” del Toro wrote on X. “A pillar of stop motion animation — a true artist. A compassionate, sensitive and mordantly witty man. A legend and a friend that inspired and gave hope to all around him. He passed away yesterday. Today we honor and miss him.”

I admired Mark Gustafson, even before I met him. A pillar of stop motion animation- a true artist. A compassionate, sensitive and mordantly witty man. A Legend- and a friend that inspired and gave hope to all around him. He passed away yesterday. Today we honor and miss him.

Stop-motion animation legend Mark Gustafson has passed away.

Among Mark Gustafson's work was Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, a stop-motion animated film released on Netflix in late 2022. The film was a huge success, winning an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature along with a Golden Globe. The film, which had been in development since 2011, was co-directed by Gustafson and Guillermo del Toro. Per Above the Line, Gustafson died on Feb. 1 after suffering a heart attack at the age of 64, and del Toro took to X to share his thoughts. The filmmaker explained how he was a fan of Gustafson before they'd even met, expressing his marvel at Gustafson's impressive accomplishments in animation.

I admired Mark Gustafson, even before I met him. A pillar of stop motion animation- a true artist. A compassionate, sensitive and mordantly witty man. A Legend- and a friend that inspired and gave hope to all around him.

What do an ogre, a clownfish, a rat, a wooden toy and a robot have in common? They’ve all been the stars of Academy Award-winning films for Best Animated Feature.

Film animation has come a long way since pioneering films such as Walt Disney‘s “Steamboat Willie” (1928) captured the hearts and imagination of a loyal public, making characters like Mickey Mouse a permanent and beloved part of our pop culture. But these films have had a harder time gaining recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1939, at the 11th awards ceremony, Disney received special recognition for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the first ever feature-length animated film, and was bestowed one full-size statuette and seven miniature ones. Two years later, Disney would receive the first competitive Oscars given for an animated film, with “Pinocchio” winning Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “When You Wish Upon a Star.

Claymation movies require complex construction and time-consuming handcrafted work, but the end result is exceptional and charming. Aardman Studios and Laika are frontrunners in the claymation genre, producing masterpieces loved by audiences of all ages. Claymation films like "Pinocchio" and "Wendell & Wild" bring new approaches and unique storytelling to well-known tales, creating thought-provoking and visually stunning experiences.

Claymation movies feature an art style centered on the complex and creative construction of clay characters. Approached through stop-motion (though typical animation has been known to combine with claymation in certain situations), the style is unique and highly charming. This is also a time-consuming filmmaking endeavor, as the filmmakers have to make all the characters and sets by hand before filming them one frame at a time. Despite those things, there is no denying some exceptional films are grounded in Claymation.

Over the years, there have been people and studios that have...

People often refer to a film being "dumped on Netflix" as a pejorative, despite the fact the landscape of entertainment has evolved well beyond a non-theatrical release being a sign of lesser quality. The streamer has distributed some genuinely incredible films, many of which have already been deemed worthy of a physical release treatment by the Criterion Collection, including "Beasts of No Nation," "Okja," "Roma," "The Irishman," "Marriage Story," "Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese," "Dick Johnson is Dead," "The Power of the Dog," and if we're counting international distribution, "Uncut Gems."

And now, the best Netflix film of 2022 and the reigning Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature, "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio," is joining that elusive club.

A reborn take on Carlo Collodi's classic character of the same name, "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio" is a marvel of stop-motion animation and arguably the definitive adaptation of the tale.

Guillermo del Toro is returning to The Criterion Collection, as his 2022 Oscar winner Pinocchio will be released on December 12th as spine #1201. What, no love for Robert Zemeckis’ version?

Here are the special features for The Criterion Collection’s upcoming release of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which also comes complete with stunning cover art by James Jean:

4K digital master, supervised by directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, with Dolby Atmos One 4K Uhd disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision Hdr and one Blu-ray with the film and special features Handcarved Cinema, a new documentary featuring del Toro, Gustafson, and cast and crew, including the film’s puppet creators, production designers, and animation supervisor Directing Stop-Motion, a new program featuring del Toro and Gustafson New conversation between del Toro and film critic Farran Smith Nehme New interview with curator Ron Magliozzi on The Museum of...

And with that, Criterion’s year closes out. They’ve ended 2023 with a small set of additions, on the 4K front rescuing Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s Pinocchio from the always-more-fragile-than-you-think streaming clutches of Netflix. Meanwhile, The Red Balloon––arguably the greatest children’s film ever made––is getting the box set treatment with four additional films by Albert Lamorisse, and Allen Baron’s New York noir Blast of Silence comes to Blu-ray. That black-and-white’s surely looking fantastic in hi-def.

Find artwork below and more details at Criterion:

The post The Criterion Collection’s December Lineup Includes Guillermo del Toro, The Red Balloon Box Set, and Blast of Silence first appeared on The Film Stage.

“Guillermo del Toro: Crafting Pinocchio,” the roving, ever-expanding, 8,000-square-foot exhibit dedicated to the art of making Guillermo del Toro and co-director Mark Gustafson’s meticulous Oscar-winning stop-motion film, has made its way from New York’s Museum of Modern Art to the Portland Art Museum in Oregon.

This past weekend, the three-time Academy Award winner came in person to the Rose City to accept a Cinema Unbound award from Pam Cut (the Portland Art Museum’s new-media-focused Center for an Untold Tomorrow) and later sit down for a relaxed chat with Pam Cut’s curator Amy Dotson. As usual, the director sounded off unguardedly about a range of topics, from struggling to get even his own passion projects greenlit to his commitment to animation and the threat of artificial intelligence looming over the creative community.

“Since I was a kid, all I wanted to do was monsters and stop-motion animation,...

Exclusive: Verve has signed 2023 Academy Award-winning director Mark Gustafson.

Gustafson most recently co-directed Pinocchio for which he won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. The widely acclaimed film was also awarded the BAFTA and Annie Award for Best Animated Feature.

With over two decades of experience in the animation industry, Gustafson has become known for his distinctive visual style and creative storytelling and has been widely recognized for his work on a range of critically acclaimed films, including Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. Previously, he worked with Eddie Murphy on the Fox series The PJs.

“Anima: to give a soul to something that didn’t have it. In stop-motion this is more true than any other form of animation.” This, according to iconoclastic filmmaker Guillermos Del Toro, exactly one week before taking home Best Animated feature at the 95th Academy Awards for his visually arresting masterpiece Pinocchio.

This idea was the crux of Del Toro’s thesis at the 2023 Film Independent Directors Close-Up session “Directing Frame by Frame” on February 26. It was the first of the annual program’s three live events at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills leading up to the Film Independent Spirit Awards on March 4.

Moderated by Del Toro’s friend and fellow filmmaker Jon Favreau, the discussion also featured co-director Mark Gustafson, Animation Supervisor Brian Leif Hansen and Director of Character Fabrication Georgina Haynes. Watch the full panel below and keep reading for highlights.

With admiration and curiosity,...

In this video we look at the Incredible VFX for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio by the masters at Mpc. Led by VFX Supervisor Aaron Weintraub and VFX Producer Emma Gorbey, the primary objective of the visual effects work was to support the filmmaker’s vision and match the practical, stop-motion aesthetic of the film, expertly crafted by the teams at ShadowMachine and The Henson Company.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio stars Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Cate Blanchett, Christoph Waltz and was directed by Guillermo del Toro & Mark Gustafson. We spoke to the cast and crew at the film’s UK Premiere at last year’s London Film Festival.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is on Netflix now.

Plot:

In 1930s Italy, where fascist dictator Benito Mussolini rules with an iron fist, carpenter Geppetto’s life is dominated by his grief over the loss of Carlo, his 10-year-old son.

This article contains spoilers for "Pinocchio"

Recently, two Pinocchio movies from rival streaming services received two very different distinctions from award organizations based in L.A. "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio," co-directed by Mark Gustafson and available on Netflix, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Disney's live-action "Pinocchio," directed by Robert Zemeckis and available on Disney+, won the Razzie Award for Worst Remake, Ripoff or Sequel.

The Battle of the Two Pinocchios was fought, and voters decided that del Toro did a better job of rediscovering the wooden boy's soul. You can't really argue with that, yet he and Zemeckis were both indebted to Walt Disney's original 1940 animated version of "Pinocchio" (also on Disney+), not to mention Carlo Collodi's foundational children's novel, "The Adventures of Pinocchio," first published in book form 140 years ago.

In "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio," the puppet is immortal, capable of reanimating after death.

“Pinocchio” co-directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson are going in separate but equally exciting directions. Both are continuing the partnership fostered with ShadowMachine Animation during the production of their highly lauded collaborative effort, which nabbed Netflix its very first Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

Announcing “Milepost 88,” a mystery series described as “sort of Coen brothers-esque,” Gustafson said, “Now that we’ve set a certain famous wooden boy loose on the world, I’m excited to launch another great adventure of my own in stop-motion animation.” The show will be set in Nevada’s Great Basin, where two brothers and gas station proprietors meet a traveler who has a strangely acute knowledge of their family’s history. A parallel story takes place in 1969 and follows a cosmonaut trying to become the first man to walk on the moon. Before teaming with del Toro on “Pinocchio,” Gustafson was Wes Anderson’s...

Exclusive: Animation studio ShadowMachine and director Mark Gustafason picled up the Oscar for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio on Sunday night and they’ve wasted no time setting up their next project.

The company, which was co-founded by Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico, and Gustafason are now developing Milepost 88, an animated mystery series.

Based on an original idea from Gustafason, the series follows two brothers, who run an old gas station deep in the Great Basin desert of Nevada, when their lives are upended by a passing stranger who unlocks a mystery involving their family history. The puzzle further unfolds in 1969 with the exploits of a reluctant cosmonaut as he tries to be the first man to reach the moon. As these parallel stories cross time and space, they reveal truths about love, ambition, and brake fluid.

Gustafson, Bulkley, and Campodonico will exec produce.

From left: Lisa Henson, Alexander Bulkley,...

Jimmy Kimmel hosts the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.

Contributed by Michelle Hannett and Gary Salem

The 95th Academy Awards were held Sunday evening at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Host Jimmy Kimmel presided over the ceremony, after the Navy Flyover and him parachuting inside the theater, as Oscar statuettes were awarded for all 23 categories. Two Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets flew down Hollywood Boulevard at an elevation of only 1,000 feet. The jets came from Naval Air Station Lemoore near Fresno. Inside the jets were two instructors, a squadron commander and a graduate form the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program – known as “Top Gun.”

Fighter jets open the show during the live ABC Telecast of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023. The 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday,...

Guillermo del Toro Photo: Richard Harbaugh/A.M.P.A.S At last night’s Academy Awards, Guillermo del Toro took home the first award of the evening for his stop-motion animation adaptation of Pinocchio. The director has been a leader in the conversation around the role of animation in Hollywood over the last year,...

The 2023 Oscars hit almost all the right notes, with Jimmy Kimmel doing a terrific job of hosting, starting with a monologue that acknowledged last year’s slap heard around the world. Kimmel used his opening bit to point out there are 16 first-time acting nominees, including two from Encino Man – Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan.

Kimmel poked fun at Babylon for being a bust at the box office and noted Batgirl is the first superhero to be defeated by an accounting department. He also confirmed James Cameron declined his invitation, joking that you know a show is too long when even Cameron can’t sit through it.

“Some of the critics are saying Jim Cameron isn’t here because he didn’t get a ‘Best Director’ nomination. And, well, I find that very hard to believe about a man of such deep humility. He does have a point. I mean,...

“Animation is ready to be taken to the next step,” asserted Guillermo del Toro as his Pinocchio won at the 2023 Oscars for best animated feature on Sunday. “Keep animation in the conversation.”

With the win, del Toro became the first filmmaker to win best picture, director and animated feature, while it delivered Netflix its first Oscar in the category.

The stop-motion adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s classic novel delvers del Toro his third Oscar, having previously won best picture and best director Academy Awards for his 2017 movie The Shape of Water.

It’s the first Academy Award for stop-motion vet Mark Gustafson, who directed alongside del Toro; producer Alexander Bulkley, a partner in animation production studio ShadowMachine; and del Toro’s longtime collaborator, producer Gary Ungar.

“It’s good to know that this art form that we love so much, stop-motion, is very much alive and well,” said Gustafson, accepting...

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, beating out Turning Red, The Sea Beast, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

This marks writer-director Guillermo del Toro’s third Oscar win and his first win in the Animated Feature category, as well as the first nomination and win for director Mark Gustafson and producers Alex Bulkley and Gary Ungar. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio also marks Netflix’s first win in the Best Animated Feature Oscar category.

“Animation is cinema,” said del Toro. “Animation is not a genre and animation is ready to be taken to the next step. We are all ready for it. Please help us keep animation in the conversation.”

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio delivers a visually stunning stop-motion adaptation of the Pinocchio fable, reimagining the story in 1930s Italy during the Fascist reign of Benito Mussolini.

Netflix is a real studio now.

The once and seemingly future king of streaming has taken home its first Oscar for Best Animated Feature for “​​Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” a stop-motion animated film that reimagines Carlo Collodi’s classic tale about a wooden puppet who comes to life.

Directed by del Toro, now a three-time Oscar winner, and Mark Gustafson, the film features the voices of Gregory Mann and David Bradley as Pinocchio and his father, the carpenter Geppetto, respectively, while Cate Blanchett, nominated for Best Actress again this year for her work in “TÁR,” voices the mistreated monkey Spazzatura. A visually stunning interpretation of the source material that leans into darker themes about life and death, the film fiercely proves that, despite some viewers’ preconceived notions and a frequent focus on kid-friendly stories, the animation genre is not just for children.

Following positive reviews from critics for its visuals and emotional storytelling,...

It turned out that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” was pretty much everything to every Oscar voter. Of its 11 nominations, it won seven, including the big one: Best Picture. The last Best Picture winner to win that many statuettes was “Gravity” in 2014.

“Eeaao” started off strong when Ke Huy Quan won Best Supporting Actor. Then Jamie Lee Curtis nabbed Best Supporting Actress and, later in the evening, the Daniels took home Best Original Screenplay. By the time it won Film Editing, the seemingly unstoppable breakout hit‘s momentum was undeniable. It then went on to triumph in Best Director, Best Actress and finally, Best Picture.

Much of the evening went according to Steve Pond‘s predictions in his final analysis of the race. “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” won Best Animated Feature, the first award of the night, and “Navalny” won Best Documentary. During his acceptance speech, “Navalny” director Daniel Roher...

While Netflix is still waiting for its first Best Picture win, the king of streaming is on the cusp of taking home a different Oscar: the one for Best Animated Feature.

“​​Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” directed by the Oscar winner and Mark Gustafson, is a reimagining of Carlo Collodi’s classic tale about a wooden puppet who comes to life. Featuring the voices of Gregory Mann and David Bradley as Pinocchio and his father, the carpenter Geppetto, respectively, the film also includes a memorable turn from two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, nominated again this year for her work in “TÁR,” as the mistreated monkey Spazzatura.

The film received rave reviews when it premiered and is considered a visually stunning interpretation of the source material that leans into darker themes about life and death. It is a perfect example of how animation lends itself to more than just so-called movies for children.

The final stretch of the 2023 Oscar season has started with voters casting their ballots for the winners of the 95th annual Academy Awards. All season long, Gold Derby has been interviewing dozens of the nominees, including contenders from four of the Best Animated Feature nominees. Click on each creative’s name below to watch each of these 20-minute interviews.

Mark Gustafson and Alexander Bulkley, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

“Pinocchio” is Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the classic tale of a father’s wish that brings a wooden boy to life. Gustafson is co-director on the film, and “Pinocchio” is his feature debut as director. He found directing with del Toro amicable because “we had very similar sensibilities, so it was ultimately quite easy. We thought about seams, story and character in very much the same way.” Bulkley is a producer on the film and says of the stop-motion style,...

Please Note: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter’s executive editor of awards, Scott Feinberg, reflects Feinberg’s best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and industry insiders, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself.

Best Picture

Projected Order of Finish

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert & Jonathan Wang)

2. All Quiet on the Western Front (Malte Grunert)

3. Top Gun: Maverick (Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, David Ellison & Christopher McQuarrie) — podcast (Bruckheimer)

4. Tár (Todd Field, Scott Lambert & Alexandra Milchan)

5. The Banshees of Inisherin (Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin & Martin McDonagh) — podcast posting soon (McDonagh)

6. Elvis (Gail Berman, Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Pamela McCormick & Schuyler Weiss)

7. The Fabelmans (Kristie Macosko Krieger, Tony Kushner...

It’s “Everything Everywhere’s” world — we just live in it.

Last weekend, the PGA and SAG awards gave the final clues to which films and performances might be the victors at the 95th Academy Awards. All evidence points to A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which won both ceremonies.

With final Oscar voting running March 2-7, the race is still impossible to call in several categories, notably some acting ones. However, best picture and director are locked in for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s multiverse sensation. Assuming a likely WGA victory at Saturday’s ceremony, the movie will be the first to win all the major guilds — PGA, DGA, SAG and WGA — since “Argo” (2012). No film has ever lost best picture with all four behind it.

PGA is one of the most crucial awards to land on the way to the Oscar statuette. That’s because the...

The Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (Leja) has handed out its awards for the year, with “Everything Everywhere All at Once” scooping up 10 wins including best picture, director for the Daniels and actress for Michelle Yeoh.

The sci-fi comedy led the nominations with 16, the most in the history of the organization.

Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick” scored the second-most wins with three for best cinematography going to Claudio Miranda, sound and stunt design.

“I am incredibly excited by the selections of our distinguished group of Latino critics, journalists and writers from all over the country,” said Clayton Davis, Leja founder and president. “I applaud our tiny but mighty organization for selecting a respectable group of films from artists we all love and admire.”

“Wakanda Forever” won prizes for costume design (Ruth E. Carter) and original song.

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” won two prizes for animated film and adapted screenplay. In addition,...

Los Angeles, Feb. 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company) won the Best Feature honor at the 50th Annie Awards celebration Saturday night on the campus of UCLA. Pinocchio also won for Best Character Animation, Feature (Tucker Barrie), Best Direction, Feature (Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson), Best Music, Feature (Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale) and Best Production Design, Feature (Curt Enderle, Guy Davis).

Best Independent Feature was presented to Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Marcel the Movie LLC) which also won for Best Voice Acting, Feature (Jenny Slate as the voice of Marcel) and Best Writing, Feature (Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate, Nick Paley, Elisabeth Holm).

Best Special Production was presented to The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse (A NoneMore and Bad Robot Production for Apple TV...

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio topped the 50th Annie Awards for animation, collecting five prizes including best animation feature, direction (del Toro and Mark Gustafson), character animation, music and production design.

“Fuck,” said del Toro as he and Gustafson took the stage to accept the directing award. “I hope to stay with you as peers with this beautiful, beautiful craft we have.” He noted that he’s been directing for 30 years and “the most creative ideas-filled group I worked with is animation.” Del Toro added his hope is that the community pushes the medium for future generations and “change the way we are perceived as a medium, not for us, but for the people coming up.” He got laughs and cheers as he wrapped by exclaiming, “Can I say, I wanted an Annie so much!”

Also Saturday at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On won three awards,...

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” has picked up another award on its march to the Oscars, nabbing the feature prize at the 50th Annie Awards, presented by Asifa-Hollywood, on Saturday evening.

In addition to being named the top film by the animation industry, “Pinocchio” led the winners’ list with five trophies overall, including the award for best direction for del Toro and fellow director Mark Gustafson. The stop-motion movie also picked up wins for music, production design (Curt Enderle and Guy Davis) and character design (Tucker Barrie).

Del Toro, who came directly from the PGA Awards where he received the trophy for producing ‘Pinocchio,’ was thrilled to win the Annie for direction alongside Gustafson. “Can I say this? I wanted the fucking Annie so much. It’s the most gorgeous thing in the world!” He noted that the Annies ceremony was the one place that he didn’t have to point...

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We will update all our Oscar predictions throughout the season, so keep checking IndieWire for the latest news from the 2023 Oscar race. The nomination round of voting will take place from January 12 to January 17, 2023, with the official Oscar nominations announced on January 24, 2023. The final voting is between March 2 and 7, 2023. Finally, the 95th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 12 and air live on ABC at 8:00 p.m. Et/ 5:00 p.m. Pt.

See our initial thoughts on what to expect at the 95th Academy Awards here.

The State of the Race

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” moved a step closer to winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature after leading Asifa-Hollywood’s 50th Annie Awards (held February 25 at UCLA’s Royce Hall). The stop-motion “Pinocchio” from Netflix took the Best Feature prize, as well as feature film awards for Best Character Animation (Tucker Barrie), Best Direction (del Toro and Mark Gustafson), Best Music,...

The 50th Annual Annie Awards from Asifa-Hollywood, honoring honor overall excellence in animation as well as individual achievement, were handed out in a ceremony February 25 at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus.

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” took home the Best Feature prize, as well as feature film awards for Best Character Animation, Best Direction, Best Music and Best Production Design. “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” was awarded Best Indie Feature, as well as Best Voice Acting for co-creator Jenny Slate and Best Writing — Feature.

In the TV categories, “Bob’s Burgers,” “Love Death + Robots,” and “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” all took home awards. See the full list of winners below.

Previously announced, The Winsor McCay Award, in recognition of lifetime or career contributions, was presented to three recipients: Pete Docter, animated feature writer-director and Pixar CEO; Evelyn Lambart (posthumously), early National Film Board of Canada collaborator,...

Right before his “Pinocchio” stop-motion film (probably) wins the Animated Feature Oscar this March, Guillermo Del Toro is setting up a new animated flick at Netflix. The “Shape of Water” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” filmmaker will direct “The Buried Giant,” an animated adaptation of “Never Let Me Go” writer Kazuo Ishiguro’s fantasy novel, for the streamer, IndieWire has confirmed.

Released in 2015, Ishiguro’s “The Buried Giant” is set in a version of England where King Arthur really existed but has long since died, and nobody is able to retain long-term memories. The story focuses on the relationship between Axl and Beatrice, an elderly couple who go on a journey to find a son they can barely remember.

Del Toro will direct and produce the film adaptation, and is co-writing the script with Dennis Kelly, who previously penned the screenplay to Netflix’s “Matilda the Musical” last year. ShadowMachine, the stop-motion studio behind “Pinocchio,...

Exclusive: Hot on the heels of a Best Animated Feature nomination for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Netflix is back in business with del Toro on another major animated film that he will direct.

Del Toro will adapt The Buried Giant, based on the fantasy novel by Nobel Prize-winning British writer Kazuo Ishiguro. The novel follows an elderly Briton couple, Axl and Beatrice, living in a fictional post-Arthurian England in which no one is able to retain long-term memories.

Del Toro will produce as well as direct, and is co-writing the script with Matilda the Musical scribe Dennis Kelly.

As on Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, ShadowMachine’s stop motion studio will serve as the production’s home base.

Netflix Film Chairman Scott Stuber sparked to setting another big animated film by del Toro, who won the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for The Shape of Water, and is...

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Nana Connie and Marcel (Isabella Rossellini and Jenny Slate)

The birth of the profound and heartwarming 1-inch shell voiced by Jenny Slate was an unusual situation that began years before the movie was made, with a series of animated shorts that Slate wrote with her then-husband, director Dean Fleischer Camp, beginning in 2010.

“It actually was a character that started with her joking around in this tiny voice about how small she felt, and then I developed the design and the animation of Marcel based on that voice,” recalls Camp. “It’s been a very long journey where we are both mutually building upon this original riff and adding parts to his character and to his world. I don’t exactly know how to separate my contributions from hers, because it has been such a mind meld, but I think that Jenny brings a real...