Now for a news story that kinda slipped us by due to last week being jam-packed with other news stories (including reports on that small little indie film that Pixar is making).
According to Hitfix, the fifth annual Hollywood Music in Media (HMIM) Awards were held last Tuesday night at The Fonda Theater in Hollywood. Among the many films that walked away with top honors, there were two animated films in particular who were able to get in on the gold.
In what I’m sure will be a pleasant surprise for Dragon fans, John Powell won the Best Score – Animated Film award for his work on How to Train Your Dragon 2. This is the first year that the category has been in effect since its incorporation into the lineup, effectively making How to Train Your Dragon 2 the very first recipient of that award.
John Powell was joined at the awards by writer/director Dean DeBlois and producer Bonnie Arnold. Here’s what he had to say after receiving the award and showing love for his DreamWorks family (this comes from the HMIM’s main website): “People ask me why I work in animation – it’s very simple: they are the sweetest people, animation people, all of them, especially this bunch. Bonnie and Dean are wonderful.” Keep in mind that John Powell had originally received an Oscar nomination (and later won a 2011 Annie Award) for the first How to Train Your Dragon film.
The nominations in that category included Danny Elfman (for Mr. Peabody & Sherman), Dario Marianelli (for The Boxtrolls), Gustavo Santaolalla (for The Book of Life), Kristian Sensini (for Rocks in My Pockets), and Mark Mothersbaugh (for The LEGO Movie).
The LEGO Movie also got some love when it won the Best Song – Animated Film award for the theme song “Everything is Awesome”. Written by Shawn Peterson (of El Tigre and Robot Chicken fame), Joshua Bartholomew, Lisa Harriton, and the comedy trio The Lonely Island, the song was produced by Mark Mothersbaugh and performed (for the movie, not the awards show) by indie pop-rock duo Tegan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island.
The nominations in that category included “What is Love” by Janelle Monae (for Rio 2), “Kid” by Peter Andre (for Mr. Peabody and Sherman), and “Still I Fly” by Spencer Lee (for Planes: Fire & Rescue). It’s also worth noting that John Powell was nominated in this category (along with Jonsi) for the song “Where No One Goes” (for How to Train Your Dragon 2).
As the first in an opening salvo of Hollywood award shows leading to the Oscars (and for animation, the Annies), having not one but two major animated films walk home with awards is pretty significant in that it looks pretty good on their ends and will likely reflect well on them as the awards season continues. Also consider that these two films are currently at or near the top of everyone’s shortlist of possible nominations following the submission of 20 films for consideration at the Oscars.
As I’ve noted, we still have a good chunk of the awards season left to go, and we’re only just getting started.
What do you think? Are you glad that these films won? Were there any other films you wanted to have recognized instead?
