This past year I didn’t get around to affixing a nomination table to my BAM Awards, when I’m tidying up before 2013 festivities I likely shall. Another thing that always interested me around Oscar time, that I never did for myself, was to total the nominations per distributor.
Seeing as how this is the first ever theme I’ve run that’s been exclusively focused on one studio, I figured it was time to at least glance back at the Disney films that have made a dent in my Awards over the years.
There were a few ways I could go about doing this. In the end, I decided year-by-year would be best, and if I noted themes in categories I’d try to mention it in closing.
Enjoy!
1996
Disney gets punked by Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon Studios’ first film Harriet the Spy tied for the most nominations with 9. I can’t guarantee I saw any Disney titles in that calendar year. I only recently saw The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I do know that Disney didn’t get any noms.
1997
Nil again. There will be some believe me.
1998
No nominations.
1999
No nominations. Mind you former subsidiaries have been nominated through these years such as Miramax and Hollywood Pictures whose film The Sixth Sense had the winningest year to date.
2000
No nominations.
2001
Though A.I. would go on to trounce the field in most categories, here can be found Disney’s first BAM Award nominations.
Max Keeble’s Big Move was one of the surprises of the year for me and it garnered 6 nominations, including Best Picture, Most Underrated and Best Performance by a Child Actor for Alex Linz. It didn’t happen to win any of said awards, but it’s quite a debut.
Ironically, Disney, via DCOMs (Disney Channel Original Movies), “dominated” the now-defunct Worst Picture category (including one that stars Linz) but didn’t “win” that award either.
Nominations: 9
Wins: 0
2002
Disney returns to the Awards with two films nominated in the worst category The Santa Claus 2 and Get a Clue, a theatrical and DCOM respectively. The latter had a catchy theme song; both have very sparse moments that spare them the dubious distinction.
Nominations: 2
Wins: 0
2003
Is a year I lost my records for. All I can recall are the winners, but everything came up Universal that year with Peter Pan winning 10 and Love Actually taking two.
2004
Disney’s first “win” is for another DCOM nominated in the now-discontinued Worst Picture category. There have been good ones, by the way. Some very good ones even, including Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire, High School Musical, Girl vs. Monster, The Suite Life Movie, etc.
Nominations: 1
Wins: 1
2005
Hindsight’s always 20/20 but in retrospect Disney dumping the Narnia franchise is a mixed bag. After Caspian wasn’t as good as it could’ve been, a change was due it just seems that maybe the shift to Fox puts more pressure and onus on Walden Media, and though they may be fan-pleasers and great to me, future installments may be slow to come.
The current plan to be brief is The Magician’s Nephew next as opposed to The Silver Chair, which would make more sense in terms of cast continuity. Either project seems a ways off right now.
This aside is a lead-in is because Disney, when they had Narnia, had their biggest BAM triumph to date with Narnia not only garnering a staggering number nominations, but winning Best Picture.
In fact, Narnia alone earned more nominations than all Disney films from 1996-2004 at the BAMs combined (with 13 and four wins).
Nominations: 13
Wins: 4
2006
This was a good year for Disney wherein they had two films earn multiple nominations AND multiple wins.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (3 Nominations, 1 Win)
High School Musical (6 Nominations, 1 Win)
Nominations: 9
Wins: 2
2007
This year was a first for Disney in a few ways. It was the first time Disney had three films nominated.
It also marked the first time two actors in Disney films made their presence known in multiple categories. Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb earned not only Child Actor nominations, but lead Actor and Actress nominations respectively for Bridge to Terabithia.
On a dubious note, the Pirates of the Caribbean that made me fall asleep was released.
Bridge to Terabithia – 5 Nominations (1 Win)
High School Musical 2 – 1 Nomination
Pirates of the Caribbean: At Wold’s End 1 Nomination (1 Win)
Nominations: 7
Wins: 2
2008
Prince Caspian, as mentioned before, was not up to par but did capture two wins (Makeup and FX) and High School Musical 3 was up for 3 nominations, all in positive categories.
Nominations: 8
Wins: 2
2009
Not a banner year, but it kept the nomination streak alive with Old Dogs grabbing an Underrated nod and Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb” earning a Song nomination.
Nominations: 2
Wins: 0
2010
In total nominations, 2010 was a worse year for Disney. If being literal there were no nominations. However, Touchstone is a Disney brand whose name appears on You Again. Billy Unger’s performance in said film, along with the deep cast of The White Ribbon, were the catalysts for the first bifurcation of the youth acting categories.
So since I’m being anal retentive about whether or not its branded solely Disney, having omitted some Dinsey/Pixar titles, let’s call this one a shutout with an important footnote.
Also, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader cleaned up a lot of nods here, but was the first Fox film of the series.
Nominations: 0
Wins: 0
2011
Similar note as above Touchstone appeared with The Help.
Nominations: 0
Wins: 0
2012
No nominations, though as mentioned Timothy Green was widely overlooked and if not for the shifting focus of my “underrated” selections it would’ve been there.
Nominations: 0
Wins: 0
Total Nominations: 51
Wins: 11
Despite the droughts that averages to 3 nomination a year and about a win every other year, which is pretty darn good I’m assuming – I think other distributors may have bigger pops at more infrequent intervals. I guess I’ll find out if I should do another studio-centric theme.
The Movie Rat 