Explaining the Obvious

The Hollywood Reporter tells us:

Why the Animation [Oscar] Race Is the Most Competitive in Years ....

Why? Because a lot of product gets made. There were a record 32 submissions for the category, which the Reporter notes doesn't include the high-grossing animated feature The Lion King (2019), since the Walt Disney Company clings to the deranged fantasy that the picture isn't really animated but ... ah ... somehow a live-action vehicle, even though there's not a live-action character in it.

The reason there's thirty-two candidates for Best Animated Feature should be clear from the numbers: the commercial trajectory of theatrical, long-form animation these past few decades has been steadily up, so more and more cartoons get made. With the exception of super hero movies, theatrical animation performs better than any other kind of film shown in big-screen multiplexes. Sony makes them, Warner Bros. makes them, Universal anf Disney and Paramount mke them. And these movies are profitable at any number of budgetary tiers. The high priced product, entertainment such as "How To Train Your Dragon, Toy Story 4, Frozen 2 and budgeted at $120-$200 million, makes buckets of money because the grosses are in the billions of dollars.

And movies like The Addams Family and Sausage Party, produced on the other end of the scale for $20 to $40 million (when Canadian subsidies are factored in), earn nice cash due to worldwide grosses of $150 million or $250 million dollars. Clearly not Toy Story 4 territory, but with smaller budgets*, profit margins are still comfortable.

Both lower and higher budget* animated features designed for the U.S. and Canadian release have a shot at the "Best Animated Feature" Oscar. Technically, they also are eligible for the "Best Picture" trophy, classical cynics know that's as likely to happen as snow drifts in Palm Springs. Actors, who comprise the largest branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will never vote for a movie that features their voices but not their bodies.

So. It's good that there are 32 submissions in the long cartoon category, but there's no mystery to it. A lot of long-form cartoons get made because they earn their creators big dollars.

* Let's add one more wrinkle to the budget levels of animated features: besides those movies designed for the American market, there are really small budget productions coming out of Spain, South America and a few other geographical locations that cost a tiny fraction of the features released stateside. They play in markets like Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, and Thailand. Many of these productions also make money, due to their micro budgets.