Golden Globes: Can Pixar continue its winning streak with ‘Cars 2’?

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Every year since the Golden Globes added an animated feature film category in 2007, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. has picked a Pixar movie for the prize. Will the streak continue in 2012 with ‘Cars 2?’

The sequel is going up against ‘Arthur Christmas,’ ‘Puss in Boots,’ ‘Rango’ and ‘The Adventures of Tintin.’ The original ‘Cars’ won the Golden Globe back in 2007.

This time, the race is more wide open, and reflects the emergence of live-action filmmakers in the genre, including Steven Spielberg (‘Tintin’), Gore Verbinski (‘Rango’) and Guillermo del Toro (executive producer, ‘Puss in Boots’), as well as a diversity of studios.

If ‘Cars 2’ director John Lasseter is sweating it, he wasn’t showing it Thursday morning. ‘I’m really excited that the animation industry is so healthy,’ said Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, in a phone call from his home in Glen Ellen, Calif. ‘People ask me about competition. I’m so glad that so many great films are being made by lots of different studios.’

Notable animated films excluded from the list include the critical and commercial successes ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’ and ‘Rio.’

Sarah Smith, director of ‘Arthur Christmas,’ reacted to news of her film’s nomination while pushing a baby carriage down a London street.

‘I’m absolutely delighted on behalf of all the people who made it,’ said Smith, whose movie was a joint production of the Britain-based Aardman Animations and Culver City-based Sony Pictures Animation. ‘We had Europeans and Russians, as well as the team from Sony in the States. When they came to Bristol, we made everybody drink tea and warm beer. ... When we came to the States, they introduced us to more civilized forms of entertainment.’

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-- Rebecca Keegan
twitter.com/@thatrebecca

John Lasseter poses for a photo in front of characters from his movie ‘Cars’ at his Hollywood Walk of Fame star presentation ceremony in Hollywood on Nov. 1. Credit: Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images