"Up" is only Pixar's 10th feature film, but it could well win the studio its fifth Oscar for animated feature. Before audiences see "Up," they are being shown a teaser trailer for next year's Pixar picture "Toy Story 3." All of the old toys are back — Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles) and Hamm (John Ratzenberger) — along with newcomers Ken (Michael Keaton) and Barbie (Jodie Benson). The film is directed by Lee Unkrich who co-helmed "Toy Story 2" with a script by Oscar winner Michael Arndt ("Little Miss Sunshine").

Both the original "Toy Story" (1995) and the equally successful sequel "Toy Story 2" (1999) predate the separate animated film category at the Oscars. "Toy Story" contended for best original screenplay ("The Usual Suspects" won) as well as song and musical/comedy score ("Pocahantas" won both these), and the sequel also had a song contender ("You'll Be in My Heart" from "Tarzan" won).

Tonight, when the MTV Movie Awards air at 6 p.m. (9 p.m. Eastern), join us here in The Envelope's chat room to share your thoughts live with me and other viewers.

Andy Samberg is host. Performers include Eminem and the Kings of Leon. Presenters include Chris Pine, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kiefer Sutherland, LeAnn Rimes, Ed Helms, Anna Faris, Justin Bartha and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds (“The Proposal”) will dole out the best kiss award.

The show will include sneak peeks at hot upcoming flicks such as  "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and "Twilight: New Moon." Check out the MTV Movie Award nominees here. 

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How is it possible, you wonder, that Susan Boyle lost "Britain's Got Talent" just days after Adam Lambert lost "American Idol"? There may be a harsh reality behind both reality TV shows that got it wrong. Boyle and Lambert may have lost public contests because of their private lives.

Many observers believe Boyle and Lambert lost because they were so heavily favored to win. Thus voters picked opponents because they wanted their votes to have maximum effect. But that didn't stop earlier "American Idol" front-runners Fantasia Barrino, Taylor Hicks and Carrie Underwood from prevailing.

Personally, I think the results of these contests reveal more about the prejudices of the voters than they do about the real talent of contestants. In Lambert's case, he obviously had greater artistic chops than Kris Allen, just like Clay Aiken was so clearly superior to Ruben Studdard, but both lost as whispers that they might be gay became deafening.

In the case of YouTube sensation Susan Boyle, she was probably defeated by one of the same things that propelled her to the finals: her frumpiness. She had enough support among a passionate minority to get her that far, but when she needed the backing of a majority of the masses, she flopped.

In the end, take solace, fans of Boyle and Lambert — over time they will have more substantial showbiz careers than the rivals who beat them, just like the outcome of Aiken versus Studdard. Those passionate minority fan bases will become more energized to rally behind their idols, proving them to be the real winners.

Compare that to the acrobatic street dance troupe Diversity, which beat Boyle on "Britain's Got Talent." Where do you think they'll be in five years when Boyle is touring concert venues?

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Photo: ITV

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After losing three consecutive worst actress bids at the Razzie Awards, it looks like Hilary Duff has a real shot at taking home that honor this year for her performance in "What Goes Up." This coming-of-age comedy set against the backdrop of the Challenger space shuttle tragedy opened today to some of the worst reviews of the year so far.

The film by first-time writer-director Jonathan Glatzer earned a mere 17 at Metacritic, which the aggregating site characterizes as representing critical "dislike or disgust." However, that score stands far above the absolute zero that "What Goes Up" rated with the critics surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes.

For Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, "Nothing in this movie is properly focused; everyone keeps talking about a character whom we never meet and does not matter; the tone keeps slipping around from indolent satire to thudding sincerity, and the Challenger shuttle disaster backdrop is queasy-making at best, offensive at worst." Glenn Whipp of the Los Angeles Times thought, "Glatzer aims to wring laughter out of this desperation but succeeds only in producing a series of contrived characters and situations that make 'The Breakfast Club' look like an unfiltered documentary." And as Vadim Rizov said in his review for the Village Voice, "This is rock bottom: I've seen a lot of terrible movies in the line of duty, but 'What Goes Up' might be the only genuinely unreleasable one."

Hilary Duff is a four-time also-ran at the Razzie Awards, those cheeky kudos that laud the worst in moviemaking. In 2004, she lost her first worst actress bid for "A Cinderella Story" to "Catwoman" star Halle Berry, who shocked the crowd when she showed up to accept the honor. The following year, Duff was edged out for her work in "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" by "Dirty Boy" leading lady Jenny McCarthy.  In 2006, she and her equally talented sister Haylie Duff made the misfire "Material Girls." However, they lost the worst actress award to Sharon Stone ("Basic Instinct 2") and the worst couple prize to brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans along with Kerry Washington ("Little Man").

Susan Boyle, the YouTube sensation, is no longer the clear front-runner to win the third season of "Britain's Got Talent." The live final — with 10 acts culled from five semi-finals — airs tomorrow night in Britain. The winner will be chosen by a public vote via telephone. And, unlike "American Idol," each telephone ballot cast costs money — 50 pence or about 80 cents.

Susan Boyle won the first semi-final last Sunday with her pitchy performance of "Memory." Since then there have been strong showings by other contenders. The first place finisher each night gets a guaranteed place in the final with the last semi airing tonight. The other three acts to top the public vote so far are street dancers Flawless, father and son comedy dance team Stavros Flatley, and saxophonist Julian Smith.

Though these three are all now proven fan favorites, the act that reportedly got Susan Boyle riled was 12-year-old boy singer Shaheen Jafarghol. He did not rank first in his heat on Tuesday, but his performance of "I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" earned him enough votes to come in either second or third.

At that point, it was up to the three judges (Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Piers Morgan) to decide whether to put him or the other runner-up — dance troupe MD Showgroup — through to the final. With Piers Morgan calling him "'the best singing performance we have heard in the semi-finals so far" Jafarghol earned a slot in the final and a spot on Boyle's list of serious rivals.

"Up" looks like another strong Oscar contender for Pixar. While the reviews for "Up" are slightly less enthusiastic than for Pixar's last picture — 2008's Oscar-winning "Wall-E" — the film still scored a solid 90 at Meta Critic and a jaw-dropping 98 at Rotten Tomatoes.

Among the strongest supporters of "Up" was Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times who said, "This is another masterwork from Pixar, which is leading the charge in modern animation." Opined Claudia Puig of USA Today, "Easily the summer's, and probably the year's, most enchanting movie, 'Up is a buoyant delight." And Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times thought, "Rarely has any film, let alone an animated one powered by the logic of dream and fantasy, been able to move so successfully and so effortlessly through so many different kinds of cinematic territory."

The animation studio has produced four of the eight Oscar winners in the animated film category since it was introduced in 2001 — "Finding Nemo" (2003); "The Incredibles" (2004); "Ratatouille" (2007); and "Wall-E" (2008). And Pixar's other two films of this era also contended — "Monsters, Inc." lost the first race in this category to "Shrek" and "Cars" was kicked aside by "Happy Feet" in 2006.

We are only five months into 2009 but there are already a slate of contenders for worst movie of the year as bestowed by the Razzie Awards. Those tongue-in-cheek kudos salute the dregs of filmmaking. The official list of less-than-notable achievements now numbers two dozen.

Among the lowlights of the year to date are "Angels & Demons," "Bride Wars," "Knowing," and "Pink Panther 2." And tomorrow sees the release of "What Goes Up," a Hilary Duff vehicle set against the backdrop of the Challenger space shuttle tragedy.

However, the tasteless teen comedy "Miss March" remains the worst-reviewed movie in contention. This first film from Zach Cregger and Trevor Moore — who share writing, directing and lead acting credits — reached a new low according to critics.

Cregger plays a man who comes out of a coma after four years to discover that his high school sweetheart is now a Playboy pinup. And Moore is his best friend along for the ride as he goes in search of her.

"Miss March" came in at a jaw-dropping zero among the top critics surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes. Even with the wider range of reviewers included in the overall score, the flick earned a score of only four. Over at Meta Critic, the movie managed to make it to seven.

Buoyed by great anticipation, Eminem sold a staggering 608,000 copies of "Relapse" in its first week of release. This album — the rapper's first in nearly five years –  is the fifth in a row from Eminem to make it to No. 1. Such staggering sales were signaled by the earlier success of the first single — "Crack a  Bottle." It shifted more than 418,000 online copies in its first week on sale in February, breaking the download record.

While his last album — "Encore" — sold over 5 million copies in the U.S. it did not win over Grammy voters. Eminem lost all four of his Grammy bids for that disc. Since then, the singer-songwriter has overcome his battle with personal demons.

He returns with the ironically titled "Relapse," which earned rave reviews for its candid self-reflection. This could be the album that finally wins Eminem one of the top prizes at the Grammy Awards.

Over the years, Eminem has won nine Grammys but lost both of his bids for album and record of the year. As a songwriter, he has only contended for song of the year once. And he did not land a best new artist nod when he burst onto the music scene in 2000.

That year he did win the first of two consecutive solo rap performance Grammys for "My Name Is" repeating the following year with "The Real Slim Shady." Eminem and his long-time collaborator Dr. Dre won the rap duo/group Grammy in 2001 for "Forget About Dre" and he won the short-form music video award in 2003 for "Without Me." Eminem won the male solo rap performance Grammy in 2004 for "Lose Yourself" which also won the rap song of the year award.

His first three albums — "The Slim Shady LP," "The Marshall Mathers LP," and "The Eminem Show" — all won the rap album Grammy. The second and third of those contended for the prestigious album of the year prize, with "Mathers" losing to Steely Dan's "Two Against Nature" in 2001 and "Show" being bested by "Come Away With Me" by Norah Jones in 2003.

Though its most recent animated movie — "Monsters vs. Aliens" — was a critical disappointment, DreamWorks is back at the drawing board. Today, studio exec Jeffrey Katzenberg announced an ambitious slate of eight toons, all to be released in 3-D, over the next three and a half years. Among the most high profile of these is "Shrek Forever After" due out in 2010. This will be the third sequel to the Oscar-winning "Shrek."

That first film about the lovable green ogre won the inaugural Academy Award for best animated film in 2001. Since then, DreamWorks has had four more Oscar contenders — "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" (2002); both "Shark Tale" and "Shrek 2" (2004); and "Kung Fu Panda" (2008) — but has yet to repeat as a solo winner. It did co-produce the 2005 champ "Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit" much as Disney did with 2002 winner "Spirited Away."

Disney's partner Pixar has produced four of the eight animated films to win this Oscar — "Finding Nemo" (2003): "The Incredibles" (2004); "Ratatouille" (2007); and "Wall-E" (2008). And Pixar has a strong contender with tomorrow's release of "Up." (Warners won with "Happy Feet" in 2006.)

DreamWorks is also producing a prequel of sorts to "Shrek" as the 2012 "Puss in Boots" showcases this popular cat character voiced by Antonio Banderas with Salma Hayek as his love interest. Oscar also-ran "Kung Fu Panda" gets a 2011 sequel subtitled "The Kaboom of Doom." And the "Madagascar" series continues with a third installment, due out in 2012, in which the talkative animals join the circus.

First up among the new films is "How to Train Your Dragon" out in the spring of 2010. Based on the bestselling children's book by Cressida Cowell, this is the story of the son of a Viking who teaches his pet dragon how to be a hero. Gerard Butler and America Ferrera are the most notable names among the voice talent. Then in November 2010, comes "Oobermind" with Robert Downey Jr. and Tina Fey among those giving voice to the story of a supervillain who has vanquished all the do-gooders only to realize how boring life can be on his own.

Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman are coming to Broadway this fall in Keith Huff's award-winning play "A Steady Rain." While the limited run of this acting showcase is sure to sell out, will this two-hander win over the notoriously feisty Gotham critics? For its original 2007 run in Chicago, the production won Joseph Jefferson Awards (the second city's equivalent of the Tony Awards) for best play at a midsize theater, best new work and best lead actor.

It is easy to understand why "A Steady Rain" would appeal to Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. The two characters in the play are one-time best friends who served together on the Chicago police force. Over the course of 90 minutes, they relive the police call that tore them apart — a domestic dispute that culminated in the death of a young boy. For the Aussie and the Brit, it will be a chance to prove they can play Americans.

The only other time Hugh Jackman headlined on Broadway, he won a Tony for his efforts. In the 2004 tuner "The Boy From Oz," he played camp Aussie singer-songwriter Peter Allen. Onstage for almost the entire show, Jackman was a force of nature. Offstage he charmed the theater community and hosted the Tony Awards for three years running, even winning a 2005 Emmy Awardfor his 2004 appearance. He was nominated again in 2006 for emceeing the 2005 Tonycast, but lost the prize for best individual performance in a variety, musical or comedy program to Barry Manilow.

Since finishing up that year-long run on the rialto, Jackman has enjoyed only mixed success in movies. While his work as comic book character come to life Wolverine still wows audiences, his more mainstream leading-man roles have missed the mark. Last year, he starred in the barely released "Deception" and the disappointing epic "Australia." Success on stage this fall could get him seen in a new light by movie producers.