"Coraline" Opens Big

Some of you may be worried that I'm jumping the gun a bit, but in my eyes "Coraline" has solidified it's status of being an early contender for the Best Animated Film Oscar for this year. The movie has opened to great reviews (88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.com) and good box office (close to $5 in it's first day). Considering we live in a world of computer animation and fart jokes, this is pretty impressive. I wrote about the project when I first heard about it, and despite being in a position where I'm supposed to be agnostic about a films prospects, I had a good feeling about this film. The combination of stop-motion master Henry Selleck and graphic novel genius Neil Gaiman sounded like a recepeit for instant magic. I haven't seen the film yet. I was supposed to see it last night but there was a problem and I couldn't go. Now that word-of-mouth is out on how good this film is I feel more mad that I didn't get to see it last night.

I also feel "Coraline" is the first horse in a race that hasn't been interesting in years. I love Pixar as much as the next person, but it's frustrating to see them win every year. Of course, the only reason this is the case is because the competition normally doesn't step up to the plate to offer any real competition ("Persepolis" aside). This year we have "Coraline," we have the Tim Burton produced "9," we have the latest from Hayao Miyazaki "Ponyo On A Cliff," we have Disney's return to traditional animation "The Princess and the Frog," etc, etc...let's just say that Pixar's "Up" has some serious competition this year. Which is a good thing. Far too long the animated feature race has been too predictable and boring. This year it looks like animation is going to come fully swinging as something to be taken seriously. And who knows: Maybe "Up" will even receive a Best Picture nomination.

Update 2-8-2009: Well the numbers are in, and "Coraline" opened at number 3 with about $16 million dollars in it's first weekend. It made more money then "The Pink Panther 2" (which many predicted to be the number 1 movie this week), and judging on good word-of-mouth this movie should do very well in the coming weeks.

"Coraline" Has High Stakes

One of the movies I'm anticipating more then other's is Henry Selicks "Coraline," a new stop-motion movie adapted from a Neil Gaiman book. Apparently the studio that is making it was founding by some guy who used to work for Nike, and while they don't believe they will make an instant financial hit, they hope to make a critically financial hit so that they can compete in an ever growing animation market:

The risk is unmistakable. The world of animation gets more crowded by the day, with feature films, DVDs, TV series and video games competing for consumers' attention. And "Coraline" isn't your typical talking-animal romp or potpourri of pop culture references.

Rather, it's a spooky, through-the-looking-glass tale of a lonely tweener girl who moves to Ashland and steps into a mirror world where sinister impostors stand in for her parents.

And did we mention that there's also a burlesque, Benny Hill-style interlude that mixes Shakespeare, trapezes and the doffing of clothes -- all set to a song written by "Coraline" director Henry Selick?

By choosing unconventional source material, as well as the decades-old stop-motion technique over the computer-generated animation familiar from such hits as the "Shrek" franchise and "The Incredibles," Laika is breaking with nearly all the conventions that helped make animated movies one of the surest bets in Hollywood.

The Dark (Animated) Horse

I've already predicted that Hayao Miyazaki's new film has the best chance of upsetting "Wall•E" at the Oscars this year, but I may have discovered a dark horse in the race:



An animated film from Neil Gaiman? Directed by "The Nightmare Before Christmas" director Henry Selick? This may be something to keep an eye out for. Maybe the animation companies are starting to get serious about this award.