ScottFeinberg.com

By Scott Mendelson

The full weekend chart HERE. See this is what happens when you have just two major cartoon during the Winter/Spring season instead of six. Last year, February, March, and April saw an onslaught on high-profile animated features, five of which opened just in March and April. Gnomeo and Juliet ($25 million opening/$99 million domestic total), Rango ($38 million/$123 million) Hop ($37 million/$103 million), and Rio ($39 million/$143 million) all did well, but were burdened by directly competing with each other. Mars Needs Moms ($6.9 million/$21 million) was one of the biggest box office bombs in modern history while the never-had-a-chance Hoodwinked: Hood vs. Evil ($4 million/$10 million) was DOA

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This year, only two songs — a record low — were deemed worthy of Oscar nominations by the Academy’s music branch: “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, music and lyrics by Flights of the Conchords‘ Bret McKenzie, and “Real in Rio” from Rio, music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, lyrics by Siedah Garrett. Today, THR is pleased to exclusively premiere a clip, provided to us by 20th Century Fox, of “Real in Rio” being performed by beautifully-animated exotic birds in Rio.

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[NOTE: A slightly different version of this same story appeared in the most recent issue of The Hollywood Reporter.]

Last month, when the nominations were announced for the 84th Oscars, the most common reaction — after “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for best picture?!” — was, “Why are there only two nominees for best original song?!” (For the record, they are “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, music and lyrics by Flights of the Conchords‘ Bret McKenzie, and “Real in Rio” from Rio, music by piano maestro Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, lyrics by Siedah Garrett.)

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The 31st annual Oscar nominees luncheon took place this afternoon in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton. Hosted by the Academy’s Board of Governors, the event drew an impressive 150 of this year’s 188 nominees — including A-listers like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Meryl Streep — all of whom were assigned seats at one of 47 tables alongside nominees from categories other than their own, as well as a few journalists, including yours truly.

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By Sean O’Connell

It doesn’t matter if you are a Muppet or a man. The Academy still doesn’t want to hear your song on Oscar night.

The Academy has decided not to perform the Oscar-nominated songs from “Rio” and “The Muppets” at this year’s Academy Awards, according to Deadline. It’s the latest change to the awards format in an effort to shake up a telecast that has grown decidedly stale in the past few years.

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One of the most noteworthy things about the 2011 awards race is how few “sure-things” there are this late in the season — indeed, the best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, best supporting actress, best adapted screenplay, and best original screenplay Oscars, to say nothing of the below-the-line categories’, are allstill up for grabs! The one race that appears to me to be locked and loaded, however, is best animated feature, in which Gore Verbinski’s Rango is the clear frontrunner.

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By Sean O’Connell

“Rango,” “Rio” and “The Adventures of Tintin” are among the 10 animated features that will compete for Best Animated Feature at the 39th Annual Annie Awards, announced this morning.

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