'We don't want to be big.' How smaller companies are shaking up animation

In astir a quarter-century of the Oscars’ animated diagnostic category, Disney oregon Pixar Studios has won 15 retired of 24 times.

But up of the awards’ 25th year, there’s been a important shift. Disney/Pixar hasn’t won successful 3 years, and past year’s triumph by “Flow” marked the archetypal clip an autarkic animated movie emerged victorious.

The 2026 nominations continued the trend: This is the 2nd consecutive twelvemonth 2 autarkic features — “Arco,” from accumulation institution Remembers, and “Little Amélie oregon the Character of Rain,” a co-production betwixt Ikki Films and Maybe Movies — are successful the race. Both premiered astatine the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, which their producers recognition arsenic a cardinal portion of their pathway to the Academy Awards.

“For autarkic movies similar ours, we indispensable person a bully festival career,” said Nidia Santiago, main enforcement of Ikki Films and shaper of “Little Amélie.” After Cannes, “Little Amélie” was acquired by GKIDS, and “Arco” was snapped up by Neon (which besides has 4 of the 5 planetary diagnostic contenders — each of them Cannes premieres).

Both distributors person enactment unneurotic awesome campaigns that allowed 2 animated films with astir $11-million budgets, oregon 10% of the reported fund for “KPop Demon Hunters,” to vie with the large guys. GKIDS successfully pushed for “Little Amélie” to vie successful champion diagnostic astatine the Annie Awards for excellence successful animation, a class typically reserved for large studios. “They believed we tin spell successful beforehand of ‘KPop’ due to the fact that we person a communicative to tell,” said Maybe Movies CEO and shaper Henri Magalon.

Remembers was founded by Ugo Bienvenu and Félix de Givry successful 2018. Though “Arco” is their archetypal feature, they’ve produced a fig of animated abbreviated films. They besides make animated commercials for luxury brands specified arsenic Chanel and Hermès.

“It’s a spot similar Robin Hood, utilizing commercialized projects to wage ourselves and reinvest successful our films,” said De Givry. “That’s the full thought of Remembers. We similar the information that wealth is simply a means, not an end.”

“Little Amélie” is Ikki Films’ archetypal diagnostic arsenic well, though it has produced implicit a twelve abbreviated films since its founding successful 2011. “They merchantability precise good successful galore countries, which allowed america to support producing and processing different projects,” Santiago said. “We’ve besides co-produced live-action features with Latin America.”

The astir established institution of the bunch, founded by Magalon successful 2003, is Maybe Movies, which began with autarkic live-action films earlier transitioning to animation. Its first, “Ernest & Celestine” (2012), was besides Oscar-nominated. “Little Amélie” is its sixth animated diagnostic — its superior root of gross frankincense far, though it’s successful the last stages of processing an animated tv series.

You’d ideate that successful the aftermath of an Oscars breakthrough, Remembers, Ikki Films and Maybe Movies would beryllium looking astatine ways to turn and expand. However, they are agreed successful the content that remaining tiny is important to their prolonged success.

A country from “Little Amélie oregon the Character of Rain.”

(GKIDS)

“We don’t privation to beryllium big. We conscionable privation to marque bully movies,” Bienvenu said. “Our extremity isn’t to go the biggest workplace — if we don’t person a communicative to tell, we volition not nutrient one. The happening that matters is uncovering thing that feels bigger than us. If we find it, we’ll marque it.”

“What matters to america is freedom,” Bienvenu said.

“We ever effort to enactment astatine the trade level, and person Remembers beryllium a institution tally by craftspeople,” De Givry added. “We could go much concern and nutrient more, but with that comes little originative control.”

“We privation to enactment small,” agreed Magalon. “We person nary fiscal nexus to immoderate studio, which grants america flexibility. If we request a 3D studio, oregon privation to bash a coproduction successful Europe, we tin bash it. ‘Amélie’ was the archetypal clip we did a accumulation 100% successful France. It was a fiscal challenge, but it was a large payment to each to beryllium adjacent to each other.”

That flexibility Magalon references is wherefore these companies proceed to thrive. All of them person tiny halfway teams that grow and retract arsenic projects demand. “We’re benignant of an accordion,” said Bienvenu, whose Remembers has a emblematic unit of 15-20, though it expanded up to 150 during the accumulation of “Arco.” Ikki Films has a halfway unit of four, including Santiago, and Maybe Movies has conscionable two. (By comparison, the directors of “Zootopia 2” person estimated that 2,000 radical contributed to the movie during its five-plus years successful production.)

Santiago explained that “depending connected the projects we do, we look for circumstantial studios. Or we prosecute freelancers directly, due to the fact that we similar to enactment successful unsocial techniques similar stop-motion.” She was approached by investors to turn her company, but she turned them down.

“It would mean I’d person to absorption connected profits implicit art. I privation to proceed making art-house films,” said Santiago. “Our operation gives america tons of liberty. We tin enactment connected unusual subjects and films that we adore, ones we truly judge tin find an audience.”

There’s nary temptation to enactment with bigger budgets either. Magalon and Santiago nexus little budgets to much creator freedom, which begets amended films.

“The bigger the budget, the much radical privation to recoup their money,” Magalon said. “But past the communicative gets tortured and excessively galore radical person a say.”

Or, arsenic Santiago enactment it, a little fund “makes it much human.”