With various critics’ groups weighing in on the best films of the year, and studios rolling their Oscar bait into limited release here and there, awards season is well and truly underway — and just in time! November gave us so little to talk about, after all; here’s a blog post I wrote for the NOW site about the prizing time.

Disney’s would-be 2D animated contender, “The Princess and the Frog”, topped the box-office in its first weekend of wide release with an estimated $25 million — a decent opening for a cartoon in December, though Variety had to do a little contorting to make it sound, well, specialer:

“Princess” scored the best nationwide debut for a toon opening in December, although it technically bowed in November, albeit as a limited run. Part of the reason is that most animated titles open around Thanksgiving, as “Princess” did.

I suppose they can’t just say “That’s a decent opening for a cartoon in December”. It’s Variety; they need to find something special about everything.