Only 3 Animated Features to Receive Oscar Noms
Today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced the animated features that have been accepted for consideration in the Animated Feature category of the Academy Awards. (We’ve posted the Academy’s press release in our CB Biz section.)
Fifteen features qualified:
* “Alpha and Omega”
* “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore”
* “Despicable Me”
* “The Dreams of Jinsha”
* “How to Train Your Dragon”
* “Idiots and Angels”
* “The Illusionist”
* “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”
* “Megamind”
* “My Dog Tulip”
* “Shrek Forever After”
* “Summer Wars”
* “Tangled”
* “Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue”
* “Toy Story 3”
Under Academy rules, “in any year when 8 to 15 animated features are released in Los Angeles County, a maximum of 3 motion pictures may be nominated.” Had one more feature qualified, the number of nominees would have expanded to five features.
The biggest losers in this scenario are the indies like Bill Plympton’s Idiots and Angels, Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist and Paul and Sandra Fierlinger’s My Dog Tulip, as well as the sleeper anime hit, Mamoru Hosoda’s Summer Wars. A field of five nominees would virtually guarantee one or two of them a nomination, but they face an uphill battle now. It’s not impossible though. In 2003, Chomet’s The Triplets of Belleville scored a nomination in a field of three, and Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s Persepolis did the same thing in 2007. They’ll have to claw their way to the top against a crowded field of big studio contenders like Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me, and Tangled.