Flow is the recipient of this year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. And it is a tremendous feat, with it being Latvia’s first Oscar win and continuing the streak of animated feature victories from studios that are not from Disney nor Pixar.
Credit where credit is due for the tiny victor starring a black cat and its non-talking animal friends, it beat both the Pixar tentpole hit Inside Out 2 and the new DreamWorks darling The Wild Robot, directed by Disney veteran Chris Sanders. That was quite a feat.
But for Disney and Pixar, that moment may cause concern for the once mighty studios and its future in winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Current output from both studios is rocky at best. Their last victories are for Soul for 2021, and for Encanto for 2022. Soul stood out from the crowd on that year, with the real competition coming from Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers. And Encanto banked on its online phenomenon during that period, leading to a justifiable victory.
Ever since, both studios struggle to stand out. On Pixar’s side, Turning Red and Elemental were nominated on their respective Oscar ceremonies, amid their mixed receptions. But on Disney Animated Studios, Strange World and Wish failed in their awards season races, with the latter facing the heaviest fallout. And despite being a box-office winner, Moana 2 failed to make a splash, even for the Best Original Song category.
And prospectively, in this writer's opinion, it seems that both Disney and Pixar might have less of a chance to bag the Best Animated Feature award.
This year, the output includes the long-delayed Elio and Zootopia 2. On a wider lens, both films carry a pedigree from their previous victors: Elio was once directed by Coco co-director Adrian Molina and Zootopia 2 is a sequel to the Oscar-winning feature, back in 2017. However, given Elio’s production delay and Disney’s track record on sequels, both movies may have a long shot towards Best Animated Feature.
Future output from both studios may not help either. As of March 6th, major projects from Disney and Pixar include Toy Story 5, Ice Age 6, Frozen 3 and Incredibles 3, which are (again) sequels. The only original film confirmed for 2026 is Pixar’s body-swap feature Hoppers from Daniel Chong. Considering its track record on original projects, the latter might have the closest chance to a Best Animated Feature.
Regardless, Flow’s victory should be a cautionary tale for the once dominant Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios. The streak that they sustained for Best Animated Feature – from Brave in 2013 to Coco in 2018, and from Toy Story 4 in 2020 to Encanto in 2022 – is not always guaranteed. This includes the more pivotal Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, taken by The Wild Robot.
With the struggling animation community getting stronger and more enthusiasts opening up to overlooked gems (like Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Robot Dreams, Memoirs of a Snail and tons of anime), Disney and Pixar need to step up their game. Otherwise, that Oscar will go to the year’s bravest underdogs.
Do you think Disney can earn its magic back?