Oscar for Best Animated Feature 2025

[Kyle]

Even haveing not seen it, I think if we just read the room, I think kpop is going to take it. People really dont like disney at the moment, and the upcoming sequel isnt going to win a lot of people over even if its pretty good. people think demon hunters is fresh, the word out mouth is all over the place. I havent seen this much hype since...I dunno, frozen?
Maybe not quite on that level, but definetely more than something like Zootopia 2. I think it'll just do so so, even if its from poor advertising.

[Sotiris]

Academy Screening Rooms Are Filling Up With Oscar Contenders — Except in the Best Picture Category
https://www.thewrap.com/academy-screeni ... -category/

[Sotiris]

Disney is submitting Versa in the short animated subject category this year.

2026 Oscars Short Film Contenders: ‘Versa’ Director Malcon Pierce
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/shorts/vers ... 56078.html

[Sotiris]

‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Ineligible For BAFTA Film Awards Despite Netflix Appeal Over Theatrical Release After Pic’s Streaming Launch
https://deadline.com/2025/11/kpop-demon ... 236614042/

‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Ruled Ineligible for BAFTAs — Here’s Why It’s Still Eligible for Oscars
https://variety.com/2025/film/awards/kp ... 236575163/

[Sotiris]

A record number of 35 animated feature films have been submitted for consideration to AMPAS this year, surpassing the previous record of 34 entries in 2023. Notable absences of Oscar-qualifying films are The King of Kings, Ne Zha II, Smurfs, and Sneaks.

Here are the submitted entries:

01. 100 Meters
02. All Operators Are Currently Unavailable
03. Arco
04. The Bad Guys 2
05. Black Butterflies
06. Boys Go to Jupiter
07. Chainsaw Man: The Movie — Reze Arc
08. ChaO
09. Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing
10. David
11. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle
12. Dog Man
13. Dog of God
14. Dragon Heart: Adventures Beyond This World
15. Elio
16. Endless Cookie
17. Fixed
18. Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie
19. In Your Dreams
20. K-Pop: Demon Hunters
21. The Legend of Hei II
22. Light of the World
23. Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
24. Lost in Starlight
25. A Magnificent Life
26. Mahavatar Narsimha
27. Night of the Zoopocalypse
28. Olivia & the Clouds
29. Out of the Nest
30. Scarlet
31. Slide
32. The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants
33. Stitch Head
34. The Twits
35. Zootopia 2

[Sotiris]

Oscars Visual Effects Top 20 Finalists: ‘Avatar,’ ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘Predator,’ ‘Sinners,’ ‘Wicked’ and More Make the Cut
https://variety.com/2025/film/awards/os ... 236593423/

[Sotiris]

The 2025 Astra Film Awards Nominations Have Been Announced
https://theastras.com/the-2025-astra-fi ... announced/

[Sotiris]

While Zootopia 2 received positive reviews, they weren't enthusiastic with critics calling it "familiar" and a "retread" which gives the edge to K-Pop: Demon Hunters which is both an original and has had a bigger cultural impact.

‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Picks Up Awards Season Momentum With NYFCC Animated Feature Win
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/awards/kpop ... 57241.html

[Farerb]

I actually agree with that and changed my initial view after watching Zootopia 2. I thought the "social commentary" might give Zootopia 2 an edge just like it did the original, but it was really toned down in the sequel, so now I believe that KPOP is the front runner - for animated movie and original song (considering the new Wicked songs got lukewarm reviews).

[PatchofBlue]

I actually agree with that and changed my initial view after watching Zootopia 2. I thought the "social commentary" might give Zootopia 2 an edge just like it did the original, but it was really toned down in the sequel, so now I believe that KPOP is the front runner - for animated movie and original song (considering the new Wicked songs got lukewarm reviews).

Was it? I felt like the whole design with the rich family stealing more territory from vulnerable groups, and rewriting history to suit their own purposes, all to reinforce broken social dynamics, was pretty "social commentary."

If it really does come down to those two films, it'll be a real test for The Academy. Which do they dislike the least? A Netflix original, or a Disney sequel?

[Farerb]

It's not that it's not there as much as it's not really a main theme of the movie and isn't as obvious as it was in the original film.

In the original you had characters insulting each other with animal puns that are supposed to be a stand in for racist remarks and the protagonist coming to terms with her own internalized prejudice. You didn't really have something like that in the sequel, I guess the closest would be the treatment towards snakes and lizards, but it's really just a minor part of the movie, and then there's an evil family doing evil things but that's really most of animated movies these days, it's pretty similar to Frozen II only the villains are still alive to keep doing that, and Frozen II wasn't even nominated.

If I had to determine the main theme of the sequel it would be partners having doubts they don't fit to work together, only to realize they actually do. I don't really think the sequel had something to say about society or the current state of the world or the current state of America.

I don't know if it's was like that in the beginning or they had to remove some of it because they were afraid people would see it as too "woke". I revisited the teaser to understand who was supposed to be the evil guy in the robe (I have no idea) and it just comes across as a concept teaser and I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have the specifics of the plot when they released the teaser like what happened with Frozen II's teaser which was full of cool epic shots that weren't in the film eventually.

[Sotiris]

It's not that it's not there as much as it's not really a main theme of the movie and isn't as obvious as it was in the original film. In the original you had characters insulting each other with animal puns that are supposed to be a stand in for racist remarks and the protagonist coming to terms with her own internalized prejudice. You didn't really have something like that in the sequel, I guess the closest would be the treatment towards snakes and lizards, but it's really just a minor part of the movie.

There was plenty of social commentary in Zootopia 2 as well. It just didn't involve the lead characters directly this time. Here, we got a white rich male displacing minority populations for financial gain (gentrification), stealing their land (colonialism and/or eminent domain), taking credit for the accomplishments of a female of color (Matilda effect), killing a working class female to cover his tracks (gender-based violence), and stigmatizing an entire minority group as scary and dangerous and treating their lives as expendable (#BlackLivesMatter, #StopAsianHate). However, none of that had anything to do with Judy of Nick personally, their experiences, or their relationship. Nick's aversion to reptiles was treated as a harmless quirk used for laughs.

I also think people are used to having a white rich man portrayed as evil in movies and TV which is probably another reason why the social commentary here didn't impress the critics. It felt more of the same and not as radical as in the original.

If it really does come down to those two films, it'll be a real test for The Academy. Which do they dislike the least? A Netflix original, or a Disney sequel?

In this case, I'd say a Disney sequel. They gave the Oscar to a Netflix original before (Del Toro's Pinocchio), so they clearly don't have an issue with that. Of course, they've awarded a Disney sequel before too with entries from Pixar, but this time the sequel in question is considered a lesser version of its predecessor. Not to mention, Academy voters may have an axe to grind with Disney regarding the whole Jimmy Kimmel debacle.

[PatchofBlue]

I'd have to watch it again specifically looking for how the film tracks something like microaggressions and whatnot, but I can see how that might feel like a step down.

One of my main notes for the film was actually that I don't think they used Gary enough. Even so, I still don't personally think that the reptile thing is a minor part of the film. Figuring out what that snake is doing here, and then trying to get him to a safe place, is the main impetus of the story.

What also comes to mind is that the first film's treatment of internalized prejudice was also kind of a twist unto itself, and I don't necessarily know you'd get that same effect by trying to pull of that trick a second time. (That to me was a major handicap for IO2 where we already have figured out that unpleasant emotions like Sadness or Anxiety are essential functions, and so trying to make that into a revelation a second time is just a no-win scenario.) It's already out there now that this animal kingdom is built on unresolved biases and slanted social dynamics. We found out how that applied to predators in the last movie, and so it takes less mileage to get us to see how that'd apply to reptiles, which is why it spends less time deconstructing the intricacies of privilege and stratification.

If it really does come down to those two films, it'll be a real test for The Academy. Which do they dislike the least? A Netflix original, or a Disney sequel?

In this case, I'd say a Disney sequel. They gave the Oscar to a Netflix original before (Del Toro's Pinocchio), so they clearly don't have an issue with that. Of course, they've awarded a Disney sequel before too with entries from Pixar, but this time the sequel in question is considered a lesser version of its predecessor. Not to mention, Academy voters may have an axe to grind with Disney regarding the whole Jimmy Kimmel debacle.

That's true. I had forgotten about Del Toro's Pinocchio, but that was also advertised as being much more auteur-driven, and I don't know if that's how anyone would describe K-POP Demon Hunters.

I'd also submit that The Academy can at times defer to Pixar as the higher institution over Disney Animation, which is why TS4 can win for best animated picture in a ceremony where F2 isn't even nominated.

In a roundabout way, the TS4 situation is also another case for why Z2 still has a significant chance. While the reception was overall really good for TS4, much more than it deserved IMO, there were also critics who noted in their reviews that the movie was kind of coasting off of earlier movies. So that's obviously not a deal-breaker.

There are two very well-trod paths here, it all just depends which one The Academy feels like taking come this February, I suppose.

[Sotiris]

It's also quite possible for an indie film to snatch the Oscar given it's a weaker year for Hollywood fare.

‘Arco’ Soars to Top Animation Honor from National Board of Review
https://www.animationmagazine.net/2025/ ... of-review/