The competition for the best animated movie of the year at the Oscars will be greater next year. The Academy has decided to cut the field of finalists from five to three for the upcoming award’s season.
The Academy released the list of qualifying films on Monday, and 15 movies were submitted and deemed eligible. A field of between eight and 15 submissions means three films can be nominated, provided they receive high enough scores.
Last year, for only the second time in the nine-year history of the category, five films were nominated out of a field of 20.
That puts the hit films “Toy Story 3” and “How to Train Your Dragon” as the odds-on early favorites in the category with “Toy Story 3” possibly having a slight edge.
That leaves the third slot open and the studios will be campaigning hard to see their films get the nod.
Here’s the full list of films that will compete for the three slots.
“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”
The three finalists will be:
“Despicable Me”?
“How to Train Your Dragon”?
“Toy Story 3”
If there are more than five animated films that meet the criteria for nomination, then why are they reducing the number of nominees? Do they really have a rule that says only 20% of the eligible submissions can be finalists?
As long as How to Train Your Dragon wins, I’m ok with it.