Oscar for Best Animated Feature 2016

[Atlantica]

Zootopia should own this, but I'm assuming Finding Dory will collect all awards going ?

[DisneyJedi]

Well... Finding Dory is essentially about finding oneself and Zootopia shares a deep message that mirrors today'a society and problems of prejudice and racism without beating us over the head with it. Which do you think has a better chance?

PS, even if it doesn't win, I'm pretty sure Kubo will at least get nominated. Literally every Lakia movie before it has.

[D82]

Disney has updated its awards site for this year. There’s not much there yet, but we can see which films they want to campaign for this awards season.

http://disneystudiosawards.com/

[Sotiris]

The first awards of the season go to Disney, unsurprisingly.

'Zootopia', 'The Jungle Book' to Be Honored at Hollywood Film Awards
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/z ... red-935616

[D82]

In my previous post I said the Disney Awards site had been updated, but I was mistaken. That was a website with information about screenings only. However, the main site has also been updated now: http://waltdisneystudiosawards.com/

Apart from the films in the other site, it includes the animated shorts Piper and Inner Workings. So far, only Zootopia and Finding Dory have the categories they are aiming for displayed. They are submitting Try Everything from Zootopia for best song. It will be interesting to see how many songs they submit for Moana and which one(s) they pick.

[Sotiris]

A record number of 70 animated short films have been submitted for this year's Oscars. In the Documentary Feature category three animated/live action hybrid films have been submitted (Life, Animated, Nuts!, and Tower).

2017 Animated Short Oscar Contenders: A Record Number of Films Are Competing
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/awards/2017- ... 44106.html

145 Documentary Features Submitted for 2016 Oscar Race
http://www.oscars.org/news/145-document ... scarr-race

‘Life, Animated,’ ‘Tower’ Documentaries Shortlisted in Oscar Race
https://www.awn.com/news/life-animated- ... oscar-race

[blackcauldron85]

Japan’s Smash Hit ‘Your Name’ Will Make An Oscar Run This Year
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/anime/japans ... 44139.html

[Tangled]

Aw. I was hoping that Your Name would hold off. It would have a really good chance of actually winning next year, I mean, if Coco turned out to be a mediocre Pixar movie and there are no surprises from other American studios next year, I really think it could win, given how big of an impact Your Name has had on Japanese audiences. It would be like how Spirited Away stole the competition because there was a lack of competition aside from maybe Lilo and Stitch (which was really good, but didn't seem much of an impact on critics). If Ghibli hadn't waited a year after the Japanese release to release in America, I'm sure it would have lost against either Shrek (ugh) or Monsters Inc. Still, I guess Funimation just wants to rush Your Name out to theatres before American audiences have the ability to watch the Japanese Blu-Ray release, which I understand.

Anyway, here's my final guess:

EitherYour Name or an American movie that deserves to be nominated way less (The Secret Life of Pets, Trolls, Kung Fu Panda 3, or the upcoming Sing probably all could be pushed to be nominated. Moana could potentially fill this spot too, but I don't think Disney Animation would want two of their movies nominated because they're just too popular and therefore would split the votes.)
The Red Turtle
Zootopia (which will probably win. I'm alright with that. I would feel better about being alright with that if Your Name and Kubo weren't also in the running this year.)
Finding Dory (on the other hand, I would not be alright if this were to win. I think it's probably the weakest animated film that stands a chance at winning. Zootopia, Kubo, Your Name, and The Red Turtle all probably deserve it more.)
Kubo and the Two Strings (poor Laika. They have essentially become the guaranteed nominee filler at the point. Alas, no matter how hard they try, they can never win)

That's actually a pretty strong lineup. I mean, probably not as strong as 2014, but a hard choice nonetheless. That is, if The Academy actually thinks about their vote this year. However, I'd just like to point out that The Academy inducted a few hundred new members to increase both gender and racial diversity this year. That could potentially shake things up, since I'm sure that The Academy has been listening to the complaints about the lack of the respect they seem to have for the animation industry.

[Disney's Divinity]

It might as well be labeled The John Lasseter Award. Better films can compete, but unless John Lasseter's name is in the credits, they can't win. Sort of like the CMAs Female Vocalist award might as well be The Miranda Lambert Award. Sad when it's rigged for lessers.

[blackcauldron85]

Eligible Films in Oscars Animated Feature Race
http://variety.com/2016/film/awards/osc ... 201907836/
(via animatedviews.com)

[Lady Cluck]

Very crowded category this year with three Disney/Pixars and more than a few other highly praised films.

Assuming Moana is positively received, right now I'm predicting the nominees will come from these six films:

Zootopia
Kubo and the Two Strings
The Red Turtle
My Life as a Zucchini
Moana
Finding Dory

I think the first three are locks, with Zootopia as the likely winner. Moana or Dory could very well be left out.

PLEASE GOD no nominations for The Secret Life of Pets or Trolls

[Sotiris]

That Variety article is incomplete. Currently, we have a record number of 30 eligible films! That does not necessarily mean that all of them will be submitted by their respective distributors but that they fulfill all the necessary requirements to qualify for consideration.

[estefan]

Yep, I'm seeing people say this is the eligible list, but the Academy usually posts it on their website first before sending it out to the trade papers. We will probably get the real list of submissions in the next couple of days.

PLEASE GOD no nominations for The Secret Life of Pets or Trolls

With how competitive this year seems to be, I don't think they will get in. And based on the very positive reception out of its TIFF premiere, I wouldn't be surprised if Universal/Illumination will put most of their eggs in the Sing basket. But like I said, this year the category seems more competitive than usual and everyone will be fighting for the slot.

But Best Animated Feature at the Oscars seems almost immune to heavy campaigning when it comes to choosing the nominations. They just seem to vote for what they like, regardless of budget size or box-office performance.

[DisneyEra]

Will Lin Manuel Miranda join this elite group? Against LaLa Land, very doubtful, but hope for an upset win.

[Sotiris]

A record of 27 animated features have been submitted for consideration. The previous record was in 2002 with 21 submissions.

The submitted features are:

The Angry Birds Movie
April and the Extraordinary World
Bilal
Finding Dory
Ice Age: Collision Course
Kingsglaive Final Fantasy XV
Kubo and the Two Strings
Kung Fu Panda 3
The Little Prince
Long Way North
Miss Hokusai
Moana
Monkey King: Hero Is Back
Mune
Mustafa & the Magician
My Life as a Zucchini
Phantom Boy
The Red Turtle
Sausage Party
The Secret Life of Pets
Sing
Snowtime!
Storks
Trolls
25 April
Your Name
Zootopia

While submitted, Monkey King: Hero Is Back will most likely be disqualified as it received a VOD release (DirecTV Cinema) prior to its theatrical exhibition which violates the rules of qualification.


While eligible, the following films were not submitted by their distributors.

Blinky Bill: The Movie
Norm of the North
Quackerz
Ratchet & Clank
The Wild Life

[Sotiris]

10 animated shorts have advanced in the voting process. From this short list, 5 will be nominated.

Blind Vaysha
Borrowed Time
Happy End
The Head Vanishes
Inner Workings
Once Upon a Line
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Pearl
Piper
Under Your Fingers

[Lady Cluck]

After seeing Moana and the critical praise it's received, I think it could win now if it's a big hit and recency bias plays a role. It has a lot of elements that will play well with the Academy and it's definitely more of a visual spectacle than Zootopia.

And I'm even more assured in my belief that Finding Dory should NOT be nominated. Too many great films and not enough spots for the resident mediocre Pixar sequel this year

[disneyprincess11]

^I agree. Finding Dory was good, but nothing special, but miles better than the pointless, unnesscerary Monsters U. Heck, the vulgar, but edgy Sausage Party deserves the nomination more.

Moana and Zootopia are special movies. If the classical Moana wins, it'll be Musker and Clements's first Oscar, but Zootopia was surprisingly mature with messages of racism and prejudice. But, I have a gut feeling it'll be Moana.

[taei]

I think that Finding Dory will be nominated, but will not win. It was quickly forgotten by pretty much everyone.

My guess for nominations:

1. Zootopia
2. Moana
3. Your Name
4. Kubo and the two strings
5. Finding Dory

Although, I could see them swapping out Kubo or Your Name for Secret Life of Pets or Sing.
I think Your Name's nomination will depend heavily on Funimation's FYC campaign, which I don't think they'll do a good job of.

Personally, here's what I think of the big movies that will be nominated:

Finding Dory: Pleasant, but not necessary. Verging closely to DTV Disney sequels.

Kubo: While stop motion animation is great, I think their stop-motion was too polished and it looked like CGI. Also, the movie was kind of Meh... Not really deserving of all the praise it is getting. and the whitewashing... oh the whitewashing..

Moana: While the movie is good, it's kind of boring for children at times, and the music is gonna keep everyone from immediately voting for it. Let's not forget that the movie is 90% derivative and reminiscent of pretty much every other Disney princess movie. We can blame "Shiny" if it loses.

Your Name: While I personally LOVED this movie, my number 1 this year, I think Funimation will mess up it's campaign and Americans will never vote for something that wasn't made by Disney/Pixar. Also, it does not translate well to other cultures, so that's a big hurdle. Almost everyone has a pre-existent opinion on Anime.

Zootopia: Wide-spread cultural appeal. Critical Acclaim. New and inventive. Takes a shot at society today and the political climate, which Hollywood has made very clear that they have a strong voice in! Makes you think that Disney should have switched the release dates of Moana and Zootopia.

Pets: Baby movie.

Honestly, I would say the sure winner is Zootopia.

[PatrickvD]

This is between Zootopia and Moana. I still think Zootopia will take it because I expect it to rake in all the critics awards.

But Moana appears to be a crowdpleaser.