Why ‘Sing 2’ could be nominated for Best Animated Feature Oscar even when the original wasn’t

When it comes to predicting Oscars, there’s so much historical data we can use to predict nominees and winners, but one category that’s always been more difficult is Best Animated Feature. It doesn’t offer a shortlist, and many lesser-seen animated features from across the globe are in consideration against better-known animated features from major American animation studios. Each year, Disney tends to have one or two nominees in the running, but Universal Pictures really didn’t find a place in the category until it began distributing the movies made by Illumination Entertainment and DreamWorks Animation. Can Universal make the cut this year for “Sing 2”?

The original “Sing” was released in December 2016, and it grossed $270.4 million domestically and another $363.8 million overseas. It was another tick in the win column for Universal and Illumination after achieving blockbuster success with the “Despicable Me” movies and “The Secret Life of Pets.”

And yet, when that year’s Oscar nominations rolled in, “Sing” was nowhere to be found among the Animated Feature nominees. Instead, Disney’s “Zootopia” – which was favored to win, and did – was nominated along with Disney’s “Moana,” LAIKA’s “Kubo and the Two Strings,” and two smaller animated films that had premiered at the Cannes Film Festival: “The Red Turtle” and “My Life as a Zucchini.” It was nice to see a couple smaller and artier animated films nominated rather than just the big studio releases, but that meant “Sing” had to sit it out.

Of course, “Sing” did well enough to warrant a sequel, which was released this past December, and it’s also doing well financially. It has grossed $267 million worldwide at the time of this writing, slightly more than Disney’s “Encanto,” and it’s been in the North American box office top three since opening just before Christmas.

However, few are expecting the animated sequel to be nominated in the category. According to Gold Derby’s Oscar odds-makers, “Encanto” is the front-runner, with “Luca,” “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” and “Flee” also likely to be nominated. Fewer than 600 Gold Derby users currently have “Sing 2” getting nominated, compared to more than 4,000 picking Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” for that tricky fifth slot.

Best Animated Feature at the Oscars has only been around for 20 years, and it wasn’t until 2009 when we were getting five nominees each year. Quite a few animated sequels have been nominated, beginning with Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 3” in 2010, and won the Oscar. In 1995 the original “Toy Story” was nominated for three Oscars, one for writing and two for music, and it received a special achievement award for being the first feature-length computer-animated film. “Toy Story 2” also received an Oscar nom for its music in 1999. Those two movies predated the Animated Feature category, so “Toy Story 3” technically showed that an animated sequel could get nominated even if the original didn’t. And almost a decade after “Toy Story 3” won, 2019’s “Toy Story 4” also won the category.

Can “Sing 2” follow in those footsteps? Where it has been thriving has been at a number of guild awards. While the academy rarely honors animated features in tech and crafts categories like Editing, Cinematography, and Production Design, many of their related industry peer groups do have animated categories that have embraced the film.

Editor Gregory Perler received a nomination from the American Cinema Editors (ACE) at their annual ACE Eddies, and art director Olivier Adam received a bid from the Art Directors Guild (ADG), a field where animation rarely gets its due. The Cinema Audio Society and Motion Picture Sound Editors also both nominated “Sing 2” in their animation categories. Even the Visual Effects Society nominated the sequel in three categories. And yes, it’s also one of five Best Animated Feature nominees at the animation-specific Annie Awards, as well as the Producers Guild Awards.

One has to keep in mind, though that the Danish animated documentary “Flee” was nominated at some of the above awards (ACE, MPSE, PGA) as a documentary instead of as an animated film; it’s eligible in both categories at the Oscars, and is predicted to be nominated for both, possibly taking that spot from “Sing 2.” And the Critics Choice Awards didn’t nominate “Sing 2” in their own animated category, though those awards are handed out by journalists while the above mentioned guilds are voted on by industry professionals like the academy members who decide the Oscars.

While Illumination may not be as regular an Oscar player with its films as Disney, Pixar, or DreamWorks, there is another precedent for “Sing 2” being nominated, the Illumination sequel “Despicable Me 2.” It was released in 2013 and grossed $970 million worldwide. Sure enough, it did get an Oscar nomination, even though the original “Despicable Me” did not. That just goes to show that “Sing 2” has a good chance regardless of the results for its predecessor.

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