We had one film release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

Rio 2

When the original film was released 3 years ago, we believed it had a long shot nomination at Best Animated Feature, but on Oscar nomination morning, it came away with one Oscar nomination and it wasn’t where we expected it.

Brazilian music legend Sergio Mendes contributed a single song to the Rio soundtrack and for that, he was awarded with an Oscar nomination for “Real in Rio.” That year was an odd one with only two nominees in the category, a first in Oscar history. The other song, “Man or Muppet,” was a de facto winner and Rio didn’t have a chance.

Now that we’ve returned to the Amazon rainforest, we have to consider two categories in lieu of the normal one. While Best Animated Feature is likely out of the question considering the reputation Blue Sky has with the Oscars, the chance of a Best Original Song nomination must be considered. Mendes isn’t around this time, yet Tony winners Rita Moreno and Kristin Chenoweth have a couple of songs each and Oscar nominees Siedah Garrett and Carlinhos Brown, who co-wrote the Oscar nominated song with Mendes, are also involved in some of the songs, so it’s possible. However, lightning may not be able to strike twice for a film that was evenly disliked by critics.