Oscar Predictions: Animated Feature — The Golden Age of Animation Looks to Continue, So When Will the Academy Recognize It Accordingly? (2024)

VarietyAwards Circuitsection is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars,Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated byVarietysenior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

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2025 Oscars Predictions:
Best Animated Feature

Weekly Commentary (Updated Aug. 8, 2024): A year brimming with robots, cats, snails, and a spectrum of complex emotions marks what could be another landmark year for animated features vying for Oscar consideration.

DreamWorks Animation, celebrating its 30th anniversary, is poised to enter the race with Chris Sanders’ “The Wild Robot,” an adaptation of the beloved book series. With the voice talents of Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal and a high-profile world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, the studio that won the first-ever animated feature Oscar with “Shrek” (2001) aims to secure the first non-Disney animated film nomination for best picture.

Before Optimus Prime and Megatron became mortal enemies, Oscar-winner Josh Cooley (“Toy Story 4”) explores the origins of the car-robot in “Transformers One” from Paramount Pictures. Speaking of origins, Grammy Award-winning musician Pharrell Williams will have his life story told through the lens of Lego animation in Focus Features’ upcoming “Piece by Piece,” directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville and set to debut at Telluride before heading to TIFF.

Netflix will juggle five movies from its animation slate.

Shannon Tindle’s “Ultraman: Rising,” an adaptation of the famous Japanese superhero franchise, is already generating buzz, along with its anime counterpart “The Imaginary” from director Yoshiyuki Momose, which has garnered solid reviews. The streamer will also present Vicky Jenson’s “Spellbound,” produced by Skydance Animation and John Lasseter, featuring music from eight-time Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken. Additionally, Simon Otto’s “That Christmas,” from a screenplay by Richard Curtis and an original song by Ed Sheeran, along with Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park’s stop-motion sequel “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” round out their offerings.

Pixar’s joyful sequel, “Inside Out 2,” already surpassing “Frozen II” as the highest-grossing animated movie in history, is expected to be a strong contender for a nomination, given that its predecessor won the category. Disney will seek recognition in other areas, such as adapted screenplay and,yes, even best picture, which isa real possibility.

Emotionally moving animals will put voters’ tear ducts into overdrive this season with entries like Gints Zilbalodis’ “Flow” from Janus Films and Sideshow, an Oscar hopeful representing Latvia in the international feature category, and Adam Elliot’s “Memoir of a Snail” from IFC, aiming for love in the original screenplay category.

As the best picture landscape appears crowded with major studios, notable IPs, and sequels, isn’t it time for animation to be more consistently considered? Recent frontrunners in the animated feature category have garnered significant critical and industry support, positioning them for Best Picture nominations and other technical recognitions. Films like “Soul” (2020), “Flee” (2021), “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (2022), “The Boy and the Heron” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (2023) have come close. Despite historic noms seeming likely in artisan categories like production design, editing, and visual effects, they have all failed to be nominated. When will the Academy (and other industry guilds) fully embrace the medium?

While Cannes received the lion’s share of early awards contender chats for festivals, it was the Annecy Animation Festival in June that had critics, pundits, and industry professionals excited for what’s ahead. Attendees were treated to early footage of “Moana 2” and capitalized on other hopefuls such as Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Most Precious of Cargoes,” which Peter Debruge, Variety’s chief film critic, praised in his review.

Animated films are seldom recognized outside the animated feature race. To date, only three animated films have been nominated for Best Picture: “Beauty and the Beast” (1991), “Up” (2009), and “Toy Story 3” (2010).

Isn’t it time for the fourth (or fifth, sixth, and seventh)?

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** denotes the film is not yet dated or can open in 2025.

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