Up Wins Two Golden Globes - Is an Oscar Next?

Last night, Up continued its surge to Oscar glory by picking up two Golden Globe awards - for Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Score. This kind of success isn't anything new - Up has already snagged four Critics' Choice nominations, earned a spot on the AFI list, scored three Grammy nods, and dominated the Annie Awards nominations.

So, is an Oscar next? Sort of. While Up is virtually a lock to take home the gold in the same categories it just won Globes for, this year the Academy has thrown a monkey wrench into the Best Picture race by expanding the category from five films to ten. Which means Up is perfectly positioned to be the first animated film since Beauty and the Beast to be nominated for Best Picture - although it's not quite the same achievement as it once was.

By expanding the category to 10 films, the Academy is trying to get bigger ratings by having the space to include more mainstream films that would otherwise be swallowed by indie darlings and Things Produced by Harvey Weinstein. The problem is - in a year like 2009, it's a stretch to find 10 movies to make up this category in the first place.

Go ahead - name 10 movies that were good in the past year. I've got: Up, Star Trek, Sherlock Holmes, Up in the Air, The Hangover, A Single Man, District 9, Watchmen, Avatar (sort of), and Princess and the Frog (I haven't seen The Blind Side, Invictus, Precious, or The Hurt Locker). Now name five movies that would be Best Picture worthy. I've got Up, Up in the Air, Avatar (solely on the basis of the effects) and ... uh..... that's it. So maybe Up would have scored a Best Picture nod anyway, but we'll never know.

Here's my prediction for our ten contenders:

• Up
• Avatar
• The Hurt Locker
• Precious
• Up in the Air
• 500 Days of Summer
• Nine
• Julie & Julia
• The Blind Side
• Invictus
  

... and then Avatar will probably win, because everyone is either afraid of James Cameron or wants to be in his next movie. The nominations are announced on February 2nd, so stay tuned!

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Related Links:

* Can Wall-E Really Win an Oscar?
* Hollywood Foreign Press Association: Suck-E
* Up Up and Away