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

The Croods: A New Age

When the first film released seven years ago, it managed to secure an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, but not as one of the year’s stronger contenders. Frozen, Monsters University, Despicable Me 2, and The Wind Rises all seemed safer bets, but when Ernest & Celestine pulled off a nomination, it was at the expense of the Pixar sequel Monsters University rather than the DreamWorks film The Croods.

This year, the sequel might not have a difficult time picking up a nomination. The lack of competition could help the film a great deal. That said, the Academy’s animation branch is more likely to reject a sequel than to support one with numerous follow ups failing to pick up expected nominations while upstarts like Netflix and Gkids (though, they are less of an upstart and more an experienced player at this point) made it in under the wire. I suspect the mixed reviews this film received will probably hinder its chances more than the branch’s anti-sequel bias, but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see it make the cut.