WALL-E Tops AFI, Boston, New York Critics' Lists

Andrew Stanton Directed Disney/Pixar Film

Dec 15, 2008

Disney/Pixar's WALL-E racks up more kudos from critics, including the American Film Institute, plus the Boston and New York Online associations.

Disney/Pixar's WALL-E has continued to get love from the critical community, topping year-end lists from Boston Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Online group and the American Film Institute.

In yet another sign that the Andrew Stanton film's appeal isn't just with the animated community, WALL-E tied with Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire for Best Picture honours with the Boston Critics' Society. WALL-E also snagged the Boston group's first ever Animated Film award. In a move that surprised no one, the CGI animated movie also made the Boston critics' list of the best movies of 2008.

Unfortunately, Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir didn't get any love from Boston. In a surprising upset, the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In edged out the Israeli animated film for Best Foreign Language film.

For the New York online critics' community, WALL-E won an award simply by not competing with Slumdog Millionaire. The Danny Boyle flick took five awards (best picture, director, screenplay, cinematography and score) while the Disney/Pixar movie nabbed – not surprisingly – best animated film.

The American Film Institute, in its constant mania for lists, also released its "Best of 2008" poll, and (surprise, surprise) WALL-E made an entrance in there as well.

Since Slumdog Millionaire is not considered an American movie, it didn't make the AFI's list, much like other acclaimed films like Revolutionary Road, Reader and Doubt.

Delgo Bombs With Audiences, Critics

On the other end of the scale, Alliance Film's Delgo was absolutely hammered in its first weekend in theatres. According to Coming Soon, it opened on 2,160 screens, and earned an estimated $916,000. That works out to $424 dollars per theatre; at $12 per theatre ticket, that implies that only 35 people watched the film at each screening.

The critics weren't exactly thrilled with the movie either: it pulled a pathetic 16% on Rotten Tomatoes' scale, meaning that only 5 out of 31 critics actually liked the film. The site's overall consensus was that "Delgo features a blend of plot elements from earlier (and superior) fantasy films, with weaker animation and dull characters."

Disney Animation's Bolt hasn't been setting the box office world on fire, either. After 4 weeks in theatres, the film has pulled down $88.9 million in total box office. It's likely to cross the $100 million mark, but the $200 million post (that denotes a blockbuster film) appears to be out of reach for the Chris Williams flick.

Disney isn't admitting how much it cost to make the film, but it's likely to be in the $100 - 150 million mark, which means this flick is nowhere near close to making back its studio costs. The best the Mouse House can hope for at this point is that Bolt starts kicking butt when it comes out on DVD.

The copyright of the article WALL-E Tops AFI, Boston, New York Critics' Lists in Hollywood Animated Films is owned by Dominic von Riedemann. Permission to republish WALL-E Tops AFI, Boston, New York Critics' Lists in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.