Though it technically qualifies as a computer-animated feature, The Lion King remake won’t compete for the Best Animated Feature gong at next year’s Oscar ceremony.
Word comes by the way of The Hollywood Reporter, confirming that 32 animated features have been submitted for consideration of The Academy. And The Lion King wasn’t one of them – only Toy Story 4 and the yet-to-be-released Frozen II will represent the Mouse House at the 2020 Oscars. It should be noted that Blue Sky’s Spies in Disguise now falls under Disney’s umbrella, too, following the company’s historic merger with 20th Century Fox.
Circling back to The Lion King, though, and there has been heated debate as to whether Jon Favreau’s star-studded redo is “live-action” as the marketing suggests, or an animated feature. Let’s not forget that the film only contained a single live-action shot; the remainder used bleeding-edge CGI to render the cast as their respective characters. Be that as it may, it seems Disney has made its decision: The Lion King is sitting this one out.
It will no doubt be a major contender in the VFX categories, with a full list of nominations expected to be announced on January 13th, 2020. A follow-up announcement will arrive in February, by which point we should know when and where the 2020 Oscars will take place.
As for The Lion King, it notched a grand total of $1.6 billion at the global box office, prompting talk of a sequel roaring into life at Disney. Take that with a grain of salt, though, because while Jon Favreau’s blockbuster made serious bank, it’s not without its detractors – chief among them being Elton John, who recently called out the Disney flick for its handling of the original soundtrack.