{"id":662558,"date":"2026-10-22T23:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T23:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/662558\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T23:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T23:22:11","slug":"animation-for-adults-wildwood-ray-gunn-tangles-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/662558\/","title":{"rendered":"Animation for Adults: ‘Wildwood,’ ‘Ray Gunn,’ ‘Tangles’ and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe MPA gave \u201cWildwood<\/a>\u201d a PG-13 for \u201cstrong fantasy violence\/bloody images, thematic material, suicide-related material, brief partial nudity and language,\u201d which is a mouthful for any movie and an especially wild one for a stop-motion picture about a girl hunting for her kidnapped baby brother.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s the first PG-13 in Laika\u2019s 17 years as a feature studio, and at 130 minutes, it ties the record for the longest English-language animated film ever made. Travis Knight, who runs the Portland, Ore., studio and directed \u201cWildwood,\u201d didn\u2019t land there by accident. Anyone who remembers how dark the back half of \u201cKubo and the Two Strings\u201d got probably isn\u2019t shocked he went this far.<\/p>\n

\n\tKnight is one of the filmmakers taking part in this year\u2019s Pixels and Pencils panel, Variety\u2019s animation directors conversation at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival<\/a>, now in its fifth year. Joining Knight at the event are Brad Bird (\u201cRay Gunn<\/a>\u201d), Daniel Chong (\u201cHoppers\u201d), Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado (\u201cForgotten Island\u201d) and Leah Nelson (\u201cTangles<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe SCAD Savannah Film Festival runs Oct. 24-31.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe panel has turned into a decent crystal ball leading to the Academy Awards. The director of \u201cFlow,\u201d Gints Zilbalodis, participated in 2024 before the little indie feature that could upset the big studios for the animated feature Oscar and last year, four of the eventual five nominees at the 98th Academy Awards, including winner \u201cKPop Demon Hunters,\u201d spoke at the event.<\/p>\n

\n\tSince \u201cGuillermo del Toro\u2019s Pinocchio\u201d won the animated feature Oscar the 95th ceremony, the trophy hasn\u2019t gone back to Disney or Pixar (\u201cThe Boy and the Heron,\u201d \u201cFlow\u201d and \u201cKPop\u201d followed), which is a real shift for a category those two studios have owned since \u201cShrek\u201d took the first trophy in the category in 2002.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut this year, animation\u2019s auteurs are making the movies they want to make.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRAY GUNN \u2014 Raymond Gunn (Sam Rockwell) and Venus Nova (Scarlett Johansson).<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Ray Gunn\u2019 \u00a92026 Skydance Animation<\/p>\n

\n\tBird\u2019s \u201cRay Gunn\u201d is the easiest place to start, partly because the man has been chasing it since 1996, when a B-52s song and a Henry Mancini tune got tangled in his head and spit out a title. That was three years before \u201cThe Iron Giant\u201d bombed at the box office (still a masterpiece, by the way) and then spent the next 25 years becoming the movie an entire generation of dads can\u2019t get through without tearing up.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019s pitched his new film as \u201cThe Maltese Falcon\u201d meets \u201cBuck Rogers.\u201d Sam Rockwell is Raymond Gunn, a gumshoe working a murder in Metropia, a version of 1939 that never happened, where humans and aliens share the same smoky streets. Netflix will release it Dec. 18, after London Film Festival screenings and a limited 70mm run. The PG rating comes with a note about \u201csuggestive material,\u201d which, if you know Bird\u2019s work, tracks. Indeed, the Pixar licensing cash cow and family-friendly adventure \u201cThe Incredibles\u201d was about a guy who hates his insurance job and misses his glory days.<\/p>\n

\n\tChong\u2019s \u201cHoppers\u201d is the on the list our nieces and nephews have already watched twice on Disney+. The Pixar original opened to $46 million in March, the best start for an original since \u201cCoco\u201d in 2017 and cleared $500 million worldwide in about five weeks, which felt like the whole studio exhaling after \u201cElemental\u201d and \u201cElio\u201d stumbled out of the gate. Chong, who created \u201cWe Bare Bears\u201d for Cartoon Network, made his feature directing debut with the story of Mabel (Piper Curda), a college student who uploads her mind into a robot beaver so she can talk to animals and keep developers from bulldozing their forest.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a family movie, sure. It\u2019s also about habitat loss and how much people are willing to give up to stop it, and there\u2019s a robot face removal scene that has reportedly sent some of the younger audience members out to the lobby. Timely, no?<\/p>\n

\n\tCrawford was on our very first panel back in 2022 with \u201cPuss in Boots: The Last Wish,\u201d the Oscar-nominated sequel nobody asked for that turned out to be a pretty frank movie about a cat who\u2019s afraid to die. And people loved it. Mercado, his best friend in real life, co-directed that one too and their friendship, which goes back to \u201cKung Fu Panda 2,\u201d is the seed of \u201cForgotten Island.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the film, Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) grew up together in the Philippines in the 1990s and are about to be pulled apart, with Raissa off to Caltech and Jo staying home. Then they get stuck in Nakali, a place out of Philippine folklore that eats memories and if they don\u2019t find a way out, they\u2019ll forget each other entirely. You don\u2019t need to have been 18 years old in Manila in the 1990s to feel that one. So seeing DreamWorks throw this kind of muscle behind a Filipino story with universal appeal means something.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for Laika, the studio is five for five in animated feature nominations, from \u201cCoraline\u201d to \u201cMissing Link\u201d and zero for five in wins, although \u201cMissing Link\u201d beat \u201cToy Story 4\u201d and \u201cFrozen II\u201d at the Golden Globes.
Knight, who got his own nomination for \u201cKubo,\u201d directs the Chris Butler adaptation of Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis\u2019 2011 novel. In the stop-motion feature, Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) goes into the forbidden woods outside Portland after her brother is taken and stumbles into a war. The Laika crew built 136 sets and 231 puppets to get her there. Fathom releases \u201cWildwood\u201d on Oct. 23, the day before Savannah kicks off.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIFC<\/p>\n

\n\tThen there\u2019s \u201cTangles,\u201d which isn\u2019t pretending to be anything other than a movie for adults. Nelson, a first-time feature director, wrote it with Sarah Leavitt, adapting Leavitt\u2019s graphic memoir about her mother\u2019s Alzheimer\u2019s in the late 1990s. Abbi Jacobson voices Sarah, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays her mom and is among the producers with Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt got a seven-minute ovation at Cannes before Independent Film Company picked it up, and the charcoal-heavy animation does something with memory that live action could not pull off. The jokes are there early but the tears come fast and furious by credits roll.<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth \u201cTangles\u201d and \u201cWildwood\u201d are also going drama at the Golden Globes, where animated titles have usually defaulted to comedy. It\u2019s category paperwork, technically, but it says a lot about how these teams want their films seen.<\/p>\n

\n\tNone of this is exactly new, by the way. \u201cPersepolis\u201d and \u201cAnomalisa\u201d were nominated by the Oscars years ago, and Japanese studios have been making animation for grown-ups for as long as we\u2019ve been watching movies. Only three animated films, \u201cBeauty and the Beast,\u201d \u201cUp\u201d and \u201cToy Story 3,\u201d have ever been nominated for best picture and the last of those was 15 years ago. What feels different in 2026 is the confidence. Nobody on this panel seems to be asking whether their story is \u201callowed\u201d to be animated.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey grew up on Saturday morning cartoons. Now they\u2019re making them for Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis week\u2019s updated predictions are below.<\/p>\n

\t\tSee all Academy Awards predictions\t<\/p>\n

\n\t
Variety Awards Circuit: Oscars<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHOPPERS, from left: Mabel (voice: Piper Curda), King George (voice: Bobby Moynihan), 2026. \u00a9 Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures \/ Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Walt Disney Co.\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\t(In alphabetical order. Ranked choices are on each individual category page)<\/p>\n

\n\tBest Picture
\u201cArtificial\u201d (Neon)
\u201cThe Debut\u201d (A24)
\u201cDune: Part Three\u201d (Warner Bros.)
\u201cThe Invite\u201d (A24)
\u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d (Netflix)
\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures) ***
\u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d (Amazon MGM Studios)
\u201cWild Horse Nine\u201d (Searchlight Pictures)
\u201cWildwood\u201d (Laika)
\u201cYou Can See Everything\u201d (A24)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector
Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, \u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d (Netflix)
Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, \u201cYou Can See Everything\u201d (A24)
Christopher Nolan, \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures)
Denis Villeneuve, \u201cDune: Part Three\u201d (Warner Bros.) ***
Olivia Wilde, \u201cThe Invite\u201d (A24)<\/p>\n

\n\tActor
Matt Damon, \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures)
John Malkovich, \u201cWild Horse Nine\u201d (Searchlight Pictures) ***
Pedro Pascal, \u201cBehemoth!\u201d (Searchlight Pictures)
Andrew Scott, \u201cElsinore\u201d (Focus Features)
John Turturro, \u201cThe Only Living Pickpocket in New York\u201d (Sony Pictures Classics)<\/p>\n

\n\tActress
Marion Bailey, \u201cTender Loving Care\u201d (Bleecker Street)
Sandra H\u00fcller, \u201cRose\u201d (Mubi)
Julianne Moore, \u201cThe Debut\u201d (A24) ***
Inde Navarrette, \u201cObsession\u201d (Focus Features)
Olivia Wilde, \u201cThe Invite\u201d (A24)<\/p>\n

\n\tSupporting Actor
Andrew Garfield, \u201cArtificial\u201d (Neon) ***
Paul Giamatti, \u201cThe Debut\u201d (A24)
Guitarricadelafuente, \u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d (Netflix)
John Leguizamo, \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures)
Sam Rockwell, \u201cWild Horse Nine\u201d (Searchlight Pictures)<\/p>\n

\n\tSupporting Actress
Pen\u00e9lope Cruz, \u201cThe Invite\u201d (A24)
Anne Hathaway, \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures) ***
Sandra H\u00fcller, \u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d (Amazon MGM Studios)
Samantha Morton, \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures)
Amanda Seyfried, \u201cYou Can See Everything\u201d (A24)<\/p>\n

\n\tOriginal Screenplay
\u201cArtificial\u201d (Neon) \u2014 Simon Rich
\u201cClub Kid\u201d (A24) \u2014 Jordan Firstman
\u201cThe Debut\u201d (A24) \u2014 Jesse Eisenberg
\u201cTender Loving Care\u201d (Bleecker Street) \u2014 Mike Leigh
\u201cWild Horse Nine\u201d (Searchlight Pictures) \u2014 Martin McDonagh ***<\/p>\n

\n\tAdapted Screenplay
\u201cDune: Part Three\u201d (Warner Bros.) \u2014 Brian K. Vaughan, Denis Villeneuve
\u201cThe Invite\u201d (A24) \u2014 Rashida Jones and Will McCormack ***
\u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d (Netflix) \u2014 Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo, Alberto Conejero
\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures) \u2014 Christopher Nolan
\u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d (Amazon MGM Studios) \u2014 Drew Goddard<\/p>\n

\n\tCasting
\u201cBeing Heumann\u201d (Apple Original Films) \u2014 Adam Caldwell and Bernard Telsey
\u201cFjord\u201d (Neon) \u2014 Hannah Chocron Fold\u00f8y
\u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d (Netflix) \u2014 Eva Leira and Yolanda Serrano
\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures) \u2014 John Papsidera ***
\u201cWild Horse Nine\u201d (Searchlight Pictures) \u2014 Sarah Finn<\/p>\n

\n\tAnimated Feature
\u201cHoppers\u201d (Pixar) \u2014 Daniel Chong and Nicole Paradis Grindle
\u201cRay Gunn\u201d (Netflix) \u2014 Brad Bird, John Lasseter, Lisa Beroud, David Ellison and Dana Goldberg
\u201cTangles\u201d (Independent Film Company) \u2014 Leah Nelson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lauren Miller Rogen, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
\u201cToy Story 5\u201d (Pixar) \u2014 Andrew Stanton, Lindsey Collins and Jessica Choi
\u201cWildwood\u201d (Laika) \u2014 Travis Knight and Sam Wilson ***<\/p>\n

\n\tProduction Design
\u201cDune: Part Three\u201d (Warner Bros.) ***
\u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d (Netflix)
\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures)
\u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d (Amazon MGM Studios)
\u201cWerwulf\u201d (Focus Features)<\/p>\n

\n\tCinematography
\u201cDune: Part Three\u201d (Warner Bros.)
\u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d (Netflix)
\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures) ***
\u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d (Amazon MGM Studios)
\u201cYou Can See Everything\u201d (A24)<\/p>\n

\n\tCostume Design
\u201cDune: Part Three\u201d (Warner Bros.) ***
\u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d (Netflix)
\u201cMichael\u201d (Lionsgate)
\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures)
\u201cSense and Sensibility\u201d (Focus Features)<\/p>\n

\n\tFilm Editing
\u201cDune: Part Three\u201d (Warner Bros.)
\u201cThe Invite\u201d (A24)
\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures) ***
\u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d (Amazon MGM Studios)
\u201cYou Can See Everything\u201d (A24)<\/p>\n

\n\tMakeup and Hairstyling
\u201cDigger\u201d (Warner Bros.)
\u201cDune: Part Three\u201d (Warner Bros.) ***
\u201cMichael\u201d (Lionsgate)
\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures)
\u201cWicker\u201d (Black Bear Pictures)<\/p>\n

\n\tSound
\u201cBehemoth!\u201d (Searchlight Pictures)
\u201cDune: Part Three\u201d (Warner Bros.)
\u201cThe Mosquito Bowl\u201d (Netflix)
\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures) ***
\u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d (Amazon MGM Studios)<\/p>\n

\n\tVisual Effects
\u201cDune: Part Three\u201d (Warner Bros.) ***
\u201cGodzilla Minus Zero\u201d (GKids)
\u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d (Amazon MGM Studios)
\u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day\u201d (Sony Pictures)
\u201cWildwood\u201d (Laika)<\/p>\n

\n\tOriginal Score
\u201cArtificial\u201d (Neon) \u2014 Damon Albarn
\u201cBehemoth!\u201d (Searchlight Pictures) \u2014 The Behemoth! Collective
\u201cDune: Part Three\u201d (Warner Bros.) \u2014 Hans Zimmer
\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d (Universal Pictures) \u2014 Ludwig G\u00f6ransson ***
\u201cWildwood\u201d (Laika) \u2014 Dario Marianelli<\/p>\n

\n\tOriginal Song
\u201cThis City May Have Chewed Me Up (But It Hasn\u2019t Spit Me Out)\u201d from \u201cThe Debut\u201d (A24) ***
\u201cLa Nieve\u201d from \u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d (Netflix)
\u201cLet Me Sell You a Dream\u201d from \u201cMusk\u201d (Bleecker Street)
\u201cI Knew It, I Knew You\u201d from \u201cToy Story 5\u201d (Pixar)
\u201cThe Better Part of Bravery\u201d from \u201cWildwood\u201d (Laika)<\/p>\n

\n\tDocumentary Feature
\u201cAmerican Doctor\u201d (Watermelon Pictures)
\u201cEverest: The Other Side\u201d (National Geographic)
\u201cNaza\u201d (The Guardian and MK2)
\u201cOnce Upon a Time in Harlem\u201d (Neon) ***
\u201cRehearsals for a Revolution\u201d (Sony Pictures Classics)<\/p>\n

\n\tInternational Feature
\u201cFjord\u201d from Romania (Neon)
\u201cLa Bola Negra\u201d from Spain (Netflix) ***
\u201cMinotaur\u201d from France (Mubi)
\u201cPossible Love\u201d from South Korea (Netflix)
\u201cWoman Unknown\u201d from Denmark (U.S. Distributor TBD)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The MPA gave \u201cWildwood\u201d a PG-13 for \u201cstrong fantasy violence\/bloody images, thematic material, suicide-related material, brief partial nudity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270,173065,280634,195051,127090],"class_list":["post-662558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-ray-gunn","tag-scad-savannah-film-festival","tag-tangles","tag-wildwood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}