It was long speculated and recently confirmed that enough titles would be submitted for consideration in the Best Animated Feature Film category for there to be five nominees this year. This is something that hasn’t happened since 2003 when Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away took home the award and not only are there 16 contenders, which is the magic number needed to open the door for five nominees, but there are 20.
The Academy just released the list of 20 films submitted for consideration and they are:
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
- Astro Boy
- Battle for Terra
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
- Coraline
- Disney’s A Christmas Carol
- The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer
- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
- Mary and Max
- The Missing Lynx
- Monsters vs. Aliens
- 9
- Planet 51
- Ponyo
- The Princess and the Frog
- The Secret of Kells
- Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
- A Town Called Panic
- Up
I am a little surprised to see Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel since it is a mixture of live-action and animation, and am not sure if the first film or Garfield were submitted, but right now I am excited to see the category will have plenty of representation.
Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture (look for Up to do just that), provided they meet the requirements for those categories.
Based on the poll I published back in October users chose Up, Coraline, Ponyo, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Princess and the Frog as their choices for the five animated nominees with Up chosen as the winner. Do you all still feel the same about that?
The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
