Up

 

Pixar Studio's 10th feature film "Up" was arguably the best animated movie of 2009, receiving five Oscar nominations, including one for best picture – the first animated film since 1992's "Beauty and the Beast" to do so. With an original, touching and highly imaginative story, it captured the hearts of the young and old.

The montage at the beginning of the movie is viewed as one of the best in the film history. Unfolding in silence to Michael Giacchino's Oscar-nominated score, it chronicles the highs and lows of Carl Frederickson's life with his childhood-friend-turned-wife, Ellie. Though only minutes in length, it tackles complex emotional issues with dramatic depth while providing a believable back story that explains just why Carl decides to fly his house to South America.

The movie landed in China on Aug. 4, 2009, two months after it opened in North America. It came at a moment when the Chinese market was eagerly embracing 3-D movies. In its first three weeks, it pulled in more than 90 million yuan (US$13.1 million).