Animated Feature - what will be nominated?

by Nathaniel R

Studio Ghibli's "Earwig and the Witch"

We really do not approve of the Academy's new shyness in telling the public which films are competing for the specialty categories. They didn't announce the animated feature eligibiility until TODAY. But here are the 27 features competing for Best Animated Feature, though the Academy has not made them official. We've helpfully divided them into categories for you after the jump...

AMERICAN PRODUCTIONS
They're all CGI. It's frustrating that American productions almost never vary from one style of animation. 

OnwardThe Willoughbys

• The Croods: A New Age (CG) 
• Onward (CG) streaming on Disney+
• Over the Moon (CG) streaming on Netflix Gold List winner
• Scoob! (CG) streaming on HBOMax
• Soul (CG) streaming on Disney+ OFCS winner and numerous critics prizes
• The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run (CG)
• Trolls World Tour (CG) streaming on HBOMax
• The Willoughbys (CG) streaming on Netflix

Generally speaking Oscar voters prefer American films though one or two international titles do usually end up with a nomination each year in this category. From this group Soul is very obviously the frontrunner. But any of the others aren't slam dunks for a nomination. The Croods New Age and Trolls World Tour are both hits but sequels (outside of the Toy Story franchise) are generally frowned upon in this category... especially if the original wasn't nominated. Meanwhile Onward was very much overshadowed by Soul, and Over the Moon hasn't inspired much devotion. That said we still consider the latter a thread because it's a musical which is a rare thing in the animated field this year.

EUROPEAN PRODUCTIONS

Kill It and Leave This TownCalamity

• Calamity (France, Traditional)  EFA nominee, Annecy winner
• Dreambuilders (Denmark, CG)
• Kill It and Leave This Town (Poland, Mixed Media) Annecy Jury Distinction
• A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (UK, Stop Motion)
• Terra Willy (France, CG)
• Wolfwalkers (Ireland, Traditional) streaming on Apple+ NYFCC winner plus other critics prizes

Wolfwalkers, like Soul, appears to be a lock -- and with good reason! Oscar voters are fond of Aardman animation so Farmageddon has a decent shot as well despite a surprisingly low profile.

Otherwise it's almost impossible to imagine Oscar voters going for the very unpleasant and adult Kill it and Leave This Town but perhaps they'll enjoy Calamity?

ASIAN PRODUCTIONS

Ride Your WaveNo 7 Cherry Lane

• Bombay Rose (India, Hand-Painted) streaming on Netflix Gold List winner
• Demon Slayer: The Movie: Mugen Train (Japan, Traditional)  Japan Academy nominee
• Earwig and the Witch (Japan, CG) 
• Lupin III: The First (Japan, CG) Japan Academy nominee last year. It lost to Weathering With You
• No. 7 Cherry Lane (Hong Kong, Traditional) Best Screenplay Venice 2019
• On-Gaku: Our Sound (Japan, Traditional)
• Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs (South Korea, CG)
• Ride Your Wave (Japan, Traditional)
• A Whisker Away (Japan, Traditional)

Oscar voters like Studio Ghibli so Earwig and the Witch is a possibility but on the other hand maybe the reason they've liked them so much in the past is their traditional hand-drawn artistry (which we no longer get Stateside so we need to get it somewhere!)? Perhaps Earwig's CG naure might prove a hindrance?

Bombay Rose and especially No. 7 Cherry Lane are mesmerizing to look at but its difficult to see Academy members being particularly into with the stories they're telling. That's especially true of No 7 Cherry Lane which is often quite surreal and queer and adult. More likely is surely Ride Your Wave which has GKids backing stateside and they've been good at Oscar campaigning in the past. A Whisker Away has Netflix backing. 

Demon Slayer is a titanic box office success at home but blockbuster status in other countries has never much mattered to the Academy. 

STILL MORE INTERNATIONAL FEATURES

The Nose or a Conspiracy of MavericksMy Favourite War

• Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus (Croatia, Mixed Media)
• Mosley (New Zealand, CG)
• My Favorite War (Latvia, Traditional) Annecy Contrechamp Award
• The Nose, or a Conspiracy of Mavericks (Russia, Traditional) EFA nominee, Annecy Jury Award

In the 19 years of this particular category, Oscar voters have never gone for anything truly experimental so Accidental Luxuriance and The Nose would both be shocking nominees if that were to happen. My Favourite War is an animated memoir/doc and was an awards success at the Latvian Film Awards winning 2 big prizes so it's possible it almost became their Oscar submission this year. (Instead that honor went to the war drama The Rifleman/Blizzard of Souls which won 6 awards). Mosley is a fantasy adventures with an all star Australian and Kiwi voice cast.

UPDATED OSCAR CHART

Unlike Documentary and International Film there are not two separate voting rounds (so there's no finalist list) but otherwise the process is similar in that if you want to vote in the nomination round, you have to see a certain percentage of the contenders before you can. Oscar nominations will be announced on March 15th.

Comments

[eduardo]

considering it's now the whole academy voters the ones to decide the nominees (remember Boss baby? Ferdinand?)

Soul
Wolfwakers
Onward
Over the moon (because Netflix is campaigning the hell out of it and after last year's precedent with I lost my body and Klaus, they seem more open to embrace the Netflix movies)
No 7 Cherry Lane (or Earwig)

[Alex Hartsell]

My top picks for the nominations are:
* Earwig and the Witch
* Onward
* Over the Moon
* Soul
* Wolfwakers

[kylie]

is bombay rose on netflix finally? i know it was supposed to drop in the beginning of december, but got pulled last minute with no new date. last i checked there was still nothing

[NATHANIEL R]

eduardo -- but you still have to see a certain number of the movies to vote in the nomination portion for this category.

kylie -- oh i'm sorry. i thought it had come out. whoops. will fix.

[Ryan T.]

OVER THE MOON is not a great but the costumes are... wow.

I prefer ONWARD over SOUL.

[John T]

For what it's worth, the original Croods was nominated for the Oscar, so it wouldn't really be in the same boat as Trolls here.

[Glenn Dunks]

BOMBAY ROSE still has a Netflix page, but no sign of the film itself which is very strange.

This really would be a perfect year for just three nominations. It's ridiculous. That being said, I'd hate it to be three nominees if those three nominees were Soul, Wolfwalkers and The Croods 2 and the potential of two other international productions can't happen just because American titles are more famous.

I hope FARMAGEDDON is nominated even though it came out so long ago. A shame THE WOLF HOUSE isn't eligible - that film is extraordinary and the best animated movie of the year.

[Adrian S-G]

I'm curious as to why the films from Croatia, Latvia and Russia are listed separately from the other European films!

And thanks for this. This site's enthusiastic deep dives into the so-called "below-the-line" categories make it a true treasure.