Well, it looks like all those folks that thought there were going to be 16 potential animated films up for Best Animated Picture can forget that dream as the Academy announced today that only 12 will be considered for the top prize and I can pretty much already make my guess now as to which three will be nominated.
The 12 films that will be submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 80th Academy Awards are:
- Alvin and the Chipmunks
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters
- Bee Movie
- Beowulf
- Meet the Robinsons
- Persepolis
- Ratatouille
- Shrek the Third
- The Simpsons Movie
- Surf’s Up
- Tekkonkinkreet
- TMNT
Yeah, you read it correctly, the live-action/animated feature Alvin and the Chipmunks is being considered. Please explain to me how that can be the case. Why isn’t Transformers up for the award as well then? Also, why aren’t Happily N’Ever After or The Ten Commandments considered? You add those three films and voila, you are only one away from having the magic number 16 candidates and instead of only three nominees there could have been six.
You see, the way this category works is that there must be at least eight in consideration to get three nominees, but to get five nominees there must be at least 16 in consideration. It looks like this could have been the year the Academy pushed to get five noms. Instead, it will be only three, and if you ask me I am already saying that Ratatouille wins the Oscar while Persepolis and Beowulf are your runners-up. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see The Simpsons Movie steal the Persepolis spot as that film has also been submitted by France as their Foreign Language candidate.
Let’s just wait and see. The 80th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 22, 2008, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, and the big show will occur on Sunday, February 24, 2008.
