^{Credit: Princess Mononoke (Studio Ghibli), 98th Academy Awards (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)}

At the 98^th Academy Awards, Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor for his performance as twins Elijah and Elias Moore in Sinners. Not since Fredric March in 1931’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has this particular award gone to a dual performance in a horror film. Following this historic win, an interviewer asked Jordan what his favorite movie was. His response? “Princess Mononoke.” It’s not the first time Jordan has expressed his love for the Studio Ghibli epic. In a BAFTA Playback episode last year, Jordan called Princess Mononoke a “visual masterpiece,” citing it as “one of his favorite movies of all time.”

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by The People Gallery (@thepeoplegallery_)

Upon its initial Japanese release in 1997, Princess Mononoke became the country’s highest-grossing film until Titanic came along. Hayao Miyazaki’s film was such a phenomenon that it won the Japan Academy Film Prize for Picture of the Year. Not Animation of the Year, which wouldn’t become a category for another decade or so. The Japan Academy named an animated feature the best film of the year, a hurdle the medium has yet to cross at the American Academy Awards. As the country’s most acclaimed picture of that year, Japan selected Princess Mononoke as their entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 70^th Academy Awards.

Princess Mononoke was one of two animated features submitted for Best Foreign Language Film that year, the other being The Little Shoemaker from Croatia. Three years earlier, Japan chose another Studio Ghibli film, Pom Poko, as their Oscar entry. While Pom Poko wasn’t nominated, Princess Mononoke seemingly stood a better chance thanks to its box office and cultural impact overseas. That impact had yet to truly reach the States, however. American animator Bob Kurtz knew Princess Mononoke would be met with bias when he attended an Academy screening.

^{Credit: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences}

“I thought, how great that Japan, which recognizes animation, submitted [Princess Mononoke] as its entry that year,” Kurtz told me. “As I was going up the aisle, the film was showing, there were two women in front of me, members of the Academy, who were very angry. ‘How dare Japan enter an animated film. How dare they.’ I didn’t say anything, but oh I was mad.” Forty-forty countries submitted for Oscar consideration that year overall. Princess Mononoke didn’t make the final lineup, which included Beyond Silence from Germany, Character from the Netherlands, Four Days in September from Brazil, Secrets of the Heart from Spain, and The Thief from Russia.

Character ultimately won. Admittedly, the film is still on my watch list, so I can’t say whether or not Character was deserving of this honor. What I can say is that few movies have endured like Princess Mononoke, which is now regarded as a classic worldwide. A couple of years later, when Princess Mononoke received an English-language dub, Roger Ebert told Miyazaki that he felt Mononoke should be nominated for Best Picture. Miyazaki said, “Thank you,” with a little bow. Ebert didn’t realize at the time that the film’s Oscar eligibility window had come and gone.

With the explosion of animation in the late 90s and early 2000s, the Academy finally introduced the Best Animated Feature category. Shrek took home the inaugural award, while Miyazaki’s Spirited Away won the second. Although it was even bigger than Princess Mononoke commercially and critically, Spirited Away wasn’t submitted for Best Foreign Language Film. Japan wouldn’t enter another animated film in that category, now retitled Best International Feature Film, until 2019’s Weathering with You. That Makoto Shinkai film wasn’t nominated either.

^{Credit: Princess Mononoke (Studio Ghibli)}

While Japanese animation hasn’t had much luck in the international category, three animated films have managed to break through with nominations: 2008’s Waltz with Bashir, 2021’s Flee, and 2024’s Flow. Academy members weren’t ready to nominate an animated film in 1997. Had Princess Mononoke come out today, though, it likely would’ve been a serious contender. Michael B. Jordan reflects a younger facet of the Academy that grew up with anime, among other forms of animation. As the Academy brings in more members from Jordan’s generation, we may see animation being recognized on a larger scale.

If this year’s Oscars were any indication, it’s that the Academy’s tastes are changing for the better. In 1997, it was hard to imagine a film with vampires breaking the record for the most Oscar nominations ever. Sinners not only achieved that milestone, but it’d result in four landmark Oscar wins. Who would’ve guessed that the mom from Field of Dreams would one day win Best Supporting Actress for playing a witch in Weapons? KPop Demon Hunters isn’t exactly what you’d call an Oscar-friendly title, yet it won two Academy Awards. Even the Best Picture-winning One Battle After Another reflects a shift between the old guard and a generation ready to embrace change.

There’s still much progress to be made. Only three animated films have been nominated for Best Picture: Beauty and the Beast, Up, and Toy Story 3, the most recent of which is almost 16 years old. Several animated films have since been in the Best Picture conversation, from Soul, to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, to Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. Yet, we’ve continually gotten our hopes up only for the nomination not to materialize. Still, if somebody as respected as Michael B. Jordan can single out Princess Mononoke as his favorite movie of all time, I’m hopeful that the Academy will one day name an animated film the Best Picture of the Year.

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Available Now!