The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has identified 14 animated features eligible for Academy Awards consideration. From this list, three titles will be selected to compete for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 81st Academy Awards. Those of us who like to see a variety of contenders were hoping for 16 eligible contenders to bring the number of nominees to five.
The 14 submitted features are:
Bolt – Disney
Delgo ‘ Fathom Studios
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! ‘ 20th Century Fox/Blue Sky
Dragon Hunters ‘ Futurikon/Peace Arch
Fly Me to the Moon ‘ Summit Ent./nWave
Igor ‘ MGM/ Weinstein Co./Exodus
Kung Fu Panda ‘ DreamWorks Animation
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa ‘ DreamWorks Animation
$9.99 ‘ Regent Releasing
The Sky Crawlers ‘ Production IG./Nippon/Sony Pictures Classics
Sword of the Stranger (Stranger Mukoh Hadan) – Shochiku/Bones/Bandai
The Tale of Despereaux – Universal
WALL-E ‘ Disney/Pixar
Waltz with Bashir ‘ Sony Pictures Classics
Curious omissions include the French feature Fear(s) of the Dark from IFC Films, the Brett Morgan documentary Chicago 10 from Roadside Attractions, Star Wars: The Clone Wars from Lucasfilm/Warner Bros., Space Chimps from Starz Media/Vanguard and The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie from Universal/Big Idea Prods. We can only assume that these films were not submitted for consideration.
Bolt, Delgo, Dragon Hunters, $9.99, The Sky Crawlers, The Tale of Despereaux and Waltz with Bashir have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying run. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and meet all of the category’s other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process. Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.
Nominations for the 81st Academy Awards will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 5:30 a.m. (PT) in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The Awards ceremony will then be presented on Sunday, Feb. 22 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. The event will be televised live by the ABC Television Network.
