- A Latvian film has shocked Inside Out 2 and Moana 2 on the 2025 Golden Globes
- Flow beat the Disney field workplace juggernauts to win this yr’s finest animated movie award
- The silent inside flick’s victory is all of the extra spectacular on account of its tiny manufacturing finances
A Latvian indie film has shocked two Disney field workplace juggernauts to win the 2025 Golden Globes finest animated movie award.
Flow, an animated film with no dialog that stars a black cat, pulled off the largest shock of the night time because it beat two of 2024’s most anticipated new films, Inside Out 2 and Moana 2, to safe this yr’s prize. The Disney-developed flicks have been smash hits final yr, with Inside Out 2 incomes virtually $1.7 billion globally and Moana 2 raking in (on the time of writing) $960 million worldwide. Despite their monstrous ticket tales and animated movie award favorites tag after the 2025 Golden Globes nominees have been revealed, although, neither sequel was capable of defeat a comparatively unknown flick whose personal box-office haul – within the US, anyway – stands a relatively meagre $6.8 million.
The Disney duo weren’t the one movies that Flow beat to win the gong. Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, which just lately made its debut on Netflix and at present holds an ideal 100% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, was additionally bested on the night time. Vengeance Most Fowl‘s fellow claymation flick Memoir of a Snail and Universal’s beautiful, painterly-style animated providing The Wild Robot, which maintain 94% and 97% critics RT rankings, additionally misplaced out to Flow.
Directed by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis – he co-wrote the flick with Matiss Kaza – Flow tells the story of Cat, a solitary animal whose house is destroyed by an ideal flood. After discovering refuge on a ship crammed with different animals, Cat quickly realizes that, to be able to survive and thrive, teamwork actually makes the dream work. It appears, then, that its basic story of unity and overcome adversity, plus its splendidly realized visuals, struck a chord with The Globes’ 300-plus-strong voting panel and helped it conquer its rivals.
A purr-fect night time for unbiased animated filmmaking
Memoir of a Snail apart, Flow‘s victory is all of the extra spectacular due to the competitors it was up towards. Not solely did three of the aforementioned films – Inside Out 2, Moana 2, and The Wild Robot – make it onto my 52 finest films of 2024 checklist, however they have been additionally made by two of the largest leisure studios round in Disney and Universal. Flow wasn’t created by a family identify, so it was already swimming towards the tide forward of the 2025 Golden Globes ceremony.
Each movie’s relative manufacturing budgets proves how surprising Flow‘s win was, too. Inside Out 2, which is out now on Disney Plus, value a reported $200 million to develop, whereas Moana 2 made a equally large splash from a value perspective with its obvious $150 million outlay. The Wild Robot‘s manufacturing value of $78 million is modest by comparability, however it’s nonetheless a big amount of cash to spend on an unique flick, particularly when it is held up towards Flow‘s extremely tiny finances. Indeed, the indie flick, which accommodates no dialog and was absolutely rendered in Blender, a free and open-source software program program, value simply $4 million to make.
I’ll readily admit that Flow handed me by upon launch in late 2024, however it’s clear that I’ve missed out on a good looking and shifting movie. Thankfully, I can rectify my error of not seeing it in theaters when Flow makes the leap to digital platforms tomorrow (January 7). The Golden Globe winner shall be accessible to lease or purchase on Amazon, Apple TV, and plenty of different on-line shops, however solely within the US. So, should you’re Australian or, like me, a UK resident, you may have to make use the most effective VPN providers round to observe it.
