The history of dog movies at the Golden Globes

The 76th Golden Globes Awards are tomorrow night, January 6, at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, hosted this year by Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live, Brooklyn 99) and Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy). 

Here at Dog O’Day, we thought it would be interesting to look at how dog movies have done at Golden Globes of the past.

Now, we’re pretty generous with what makes up the subgenre of “dog movie,” but that’s part of assigning subgenres – they’re malleable and arguments can be made for just about anything. (I’m also the person who argues that Super Mario and Jedi ought to be considered superheroes.)

The definition for a dog movie is this: It must feature a dog (or other canine) in a substantial role, and/or serve an important function to the plot. So the upcoming Tom Hanks war movie Greyhound wouldn’t count, because that’s the name of a Navy submarine, and neither would Coyote Ugly, since that’s the name of the bar. But Zootopia would, because it stars a fox and so would New York Minute, because a dog is an important plot point.

Babe, about a pig who becomes a champion in herding competitions, won Best Motion Picture for Musical or Comedy in 1995, following The Lion King, which features the hyenas as Scar’s henchmen, the previous year. In the same category, Best in Show (the inspiration for the National Dog Show) was nominated in 2000. The next year, Legally Blonde, which features Reese Witherspoon’s Chihuahua Bruiser in many scenes, was also nominated, and Into the Woods, which includes the Big Bad Wolf, was nominated in 2014.

Glenn Close was nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture for Musical or Comedy in 1996 for her portrayal of Cruella De Vil in the live-action 101 Dalmatians. Two years later, Meg Ryan was nominated in the same category for You’ve Got Mail, though it’s Tom Hanks’ character with the dog in that film. In 2001 Witherspoon was nominated for Legally Blonde, 

Dog movies have done the best in the relative new category of Best Animated Feature Film. Bolt was nominated in 2008, while in 2009 Up, featuring Doug the overweight, lovable, talking Golden Retriever, won over a field that included Fantastic Mr. Fox. 

Toy Story 3, which included Slinky Dog as a supporting character, won in 2010, while The Adventures of Tintin, featuring Snowy, won the next year. Frankenweenie was nominated in 2012, and The Peanuts Movie was nominated in 2015. Zootopia won in 2016, followed by Coco in 2017, with Isle of Dogs nominated this year.

Who do you think will bring home the hardware this year?