It’s good to be the king, especially when it comes times to dish out kudos for the home entertainment market. Disney’s direct-to-video sequel, The Lion King 1 1/2, led the pride with a total of 11 nods for the 2004 DVD Exclusive Awards. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005 at the Annenberg Building at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The gala event’s cocktail reception begins at 6:30 p.m. and dinner and the awards show start at 7:30 p.m.
Produced by George A. Mendoza, The Lion King 1 1/2 is up for Best Animated DVD Premiere Movie, along with Miramax/Disney’s Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui and the Lions Gate titles Barbie as Princess and Pauper, Care Bears: Journey to Joke-A-Lot and Dragons: Fire & Ice.
Lion King 1 1/2 helmer Bradley Raymond vies for Best Director (of a DVD Premiere Movie) with William Lau for Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper David Molina and Terry Shakespeare for Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui, Mark Hamill for Comic Book: The Movie and Donovan Cook for Mickey’s The Three Musketeers.
Disney dominates the Best Screenplay race with nods for The Lion King 1′ by Tom Rogers; Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas by Bill Motz, Bob Roth, Peggy Holmes, Chad Fiveash, James Patrick Stotereaux, Matthew O’Callaghan, Shirley Pierce, Jim Peronto, Carole Holliday, Michael Shipley and Jim Bernstein; Mickey’s The Three Musketeers by David M. Evans and Evan Spiliotopoulos; Winnie the Pooh: Springtime With Roo by Tom Rogers; and American Gun by Alan Jacobs (Miramax/Disney).
A pair of Lion King favorites are up for Best Animated Character Performance. Timon, voiced by Nathan Lane and animated by Alexis Stadermann, is joined in the category by pal Pumbaa, voiced by Ernie Sabella and brought to the screen by supervising animator Bob Baxter. Also in the running are Tigger (Jim Cummings) from Winnie the Pooh: Springtime With Roo, Preminger (Martin Short) from Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper and Minnie Mouse (Russi Taylor) from Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas.
Original Song contenders include "To Be a Princess" from Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper, "Be Prepared" from The Lion King 1′, "That’s All I Need" from The Lion King 1′, "All For One and One For All" from Mickey’s The Three Musketeers and "Way Back When" from Disney’s Where the Red Fern Grows. Competing for Best Original Score are Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper (Arnie Roth), Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui (Nathan Furst), The Lion King 1′ (Don Harper) Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas (Stephen James Taylor) and Winnie the Pooh: Springtime With Roo (Mark Waters.)
One award The Lion King 1 1/2 isn’t up for is Best Overall DVD, New Movie. That race is being run by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King–Special Extended Edition (New Line/Warner), Spider-Man 2 (Sony), The Ultimate Matrix Collection (Warner), School of Rock (Paramount) and Capturing the Friedmans (HBO/Warner).
Extra features included in the DVD release of DreamWorks’ Shrek 2 earned the title nominations in the categories Games and Interactives, Menu Design and New Movie Scenes. The Far, Far Away Idol interactive segment in competition with the new animated short, The Cat That Looked at a King, from Mary Poppins 40th Anniversary Edition.
On the TV side, the fifth season of Fox’s animated primetime staple, The Simpsons, is competing for Best Overall DVD, TV Program, with the live-action hits 24: Season 3 (Fox), Arrested Development: Season One (Fox), Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete First Season (HBO/Warner) and the long awaited Seinfeld: Seasons 1 & 2 (Sony). In addition the fourth season of The Simpsons is nominated in the Audio Commentary category, where Matt Groening and crew will take on fellow chatters such as George Lucas (Star Wars Trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back) and Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King–Special Extended Edition.
DVD Exclusive magazine, published by Reed Business Information, is distributed to Daily Variety readers. For more information on the DVD Exclusive Awards and to see the full list of nominees, go to www.dvdexclusive.com.
