2020 is shaping up to be a solid year for feature films across the board, but don't sleep on the animated movie slate. The calendar year has a lot to offer, whether you're looking for big-budget franchise films, animated adaptations of your favorite TV characters or video games, a pair of Pixar flicks, or some incredible films from overseas, be it Japanese anime or new works from acclaimed animation studios. There's quite a few titles to keep track of, so we've put them all here for you in one convenient location.

But rather than just give you a list of movies, we've also curated that list with the few that we're most excited for over the next few months. We're not only giving you a heads up on when these movies are due to hit theaters, but also a bit about the story, the talented team behind the scenes, and why we're curious to check them out. Enjoy!

Just so you have them all in one handy place, here's a list of animated movies due out in theaters this year:

Major Releases:

  • Sonic the Hedgehog - February 14th
  • Onward - March 6th
  • Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway - April 3rd
  • Trolls World Tour - April 17th
  • Scoob! - May 15th
  • The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run - May 22nd
  • Soul - June 19th
  • Minions: The Rise of Gru - July 3rd
  • Bob's Burgers: The Movie - July 17th
  • The One and Only Ivan - August 14th
  • The Mitchells vs. the Machines - September 18th
  • Clifford the Big Red Dog - November 13th
  • Raya and the Last Dragon - November 25th
  • The Croods 2 - December 23rd*
  • Tom and Jerry - December 23rd*

*Expect some of these titles to change dates

And for the weebs out there, here are some anime feature film releases (in Japan) to keep an eye out for:

  • Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna - February 21st
  • Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet - April 17th
  • Violet Evergarden the Movie - April 24th (From Kyoto Animation)
  • Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 - June 27th

Release Date TBD:

  • Bigfoot Superstar *TBD
  • Over the Moon - TBD
  • Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe - TBD
  • The Willoughbys - TBD
  • Wish Dragon - TBD / China
  • Wolfwalkers - TBD / Ireland  (Cartoon Saloon: Secret of Kells, Breadwinner)

Bigfoot Superstar 

son-of-bigfoot-slice

Release Date: TBD

I genuinely can’t even adequately describe how tickled I am by the premise of Bigfoot Superstar, the sequel to the 2017 Belgian-French feature Son of Bigfoot (pictured above). Teenager Adam—the titular son of the actual mythic Bigfoot from the first film—has decided to use the superpowers granted to him as a member of the Bigfoot family to rocket to international stardom, a station he plans to use to protect the environment. Delightful. Just all-around delightful. Son of Bigfoot co-directors Ben Stassen (Fly Me to the Moon) and Jérémie Degruson (Thunder and the House of Magic) will return for the sequel, directing a script by duo Bob Barlen and Cal Brunker (Escape from Planet Earth). --Vinnie Mancuso

Wolfwalkers

Image via Cartoon Saloon

Release Date: TBD

Wolfwalkers is the next big title from acclaimed Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon. The production house, responsible for incredibly artistic and unique movies The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, and The Breadwinner, will be teaming up with AppleTV+ for distribution of the new movie, so we don't quite have a release date or clear picture of how that rollout is going to work.

What we do know is that two-time Oscar-nominee Tomm Moore is teaming up with the studio's artist/art director Ross Stewart to direct from a story they wrote together; Will Collins (Song of the Sea) handled screenplay duties. The story follows a young hunter-in-training named Robyn who travels to Ireland with her father to wipe out wolves once and for all. But a friendship forged when Robyn saves the wild native girl Mebh leads her to discover the Wolfwalkers ... and put her in the crosshairs of her very own father.

Honestly, whatever Cartoon Saloon comes out with, we're excited to see it. We just hope this one makes its 2020 release. - Dave Trumbore

Sonic the Hedgehog

Release Date: February 14th

I’m not sure why we bothered with the “animated” qualifier, because Sonic the Hedgehog is easily my most anticipated film of the year in any genre or medium. I literally cannot wait to see this movie for free on streaming in five months or so. The movie was famously delayed for several months to redesign the titular hedgehog with an attitude after the initial trailer was met with a nuclear fan reaction over Sonic’s stygian design. And while the hedgehog himself admittedly looks much better, Sonic wasn’t the only problem with that first trailer. The movie around him looks like a derivative children’s adventure comedy from the mid ‘80s, like E.T. if E.T. told jokes and befriended an adult man, and also wasn’t a very good movie. That said, Jim Carrey seems to be having a lot of fun as the preening mad scientist Dr. Robotnick, and I do think there’s fun to be had with the fish-out-of-water premise. Why this wasn’t a fully-animated film set in the world of Sonic the Hedgehog is beyond me, but then I wouldn’t get to see Carrey with a crazy Wario mustache, and I don’t want to live in that world. - Tom Reimann

Onward

Release Date: March 6th

Onward marks a new original story from the fine folks at Pixar animation (specifically director Dan Scanlon), and the trailers thus far have teased an exciting blend of fantasy and deep-rooted emotion. The story takes place in a fantastical world that’s also a little mundane—there are unicorns, but they’re regular ol’ pests who rummage through people’s garbage. The heart of the story is two brothers—Chris Pratt plays the oldest, and Tom Holland plays the younger of the two. Holland’s character never met their father, who died before he was old enough to interact, so the two conjure a spell that will bring their dad back for one day. The only problem is the spell half-works—they brought back his legs, but nothing else. The clock is ticking on them to fix the spell before time runs out, but instead of the world or some metropolis being at stake, it’s the chance for a young boy to finally meet his father. If that doesn’t bring on the waterworks, I’m not sure what will. – Adam Chitwood

Trolls World Tour

trolls-world-tour-slice

Release Date: April 17th

Trolls is one of those brazen IP‌ plays that worked a lot better than it should have. Though it didn’t accomplish the innovative and heartfelt heights of The LEGO‌ Movie, the 2016 film similarly built a charming feature film on the backbone of… a popular toy. In this case, the ugly-cute Troll Dolls that littered countless childhood bedrooms and (again, like LEGOs) threatened unsuspecting under soles for decades. Like the namesake toys, Trolls was soft and silly but still, an energetic and vibrant burst of positive energy.

Picking up where the first film left off, Trolls World Tour finds Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake returning as Poppy and Branch, who are exploring new worlds of Trolldom after they discovered they were one of six Troll tribes from different lands, each with their own culture and music. But when they meet a clan of hard rock Trolls who want to destroy all music but Rock ‘n Roll (including standout newcomers Rachel Bloom and Ozzy Osbourne), they have to unify the rest of the Troll lands to save their jaunty tunes. The first trailers promise more dazzling all-the-colors-of-the-rainbow animation and no doubt another uplifting story about acceptance, both of yourself and others. – Haleigh Foutch

Scoob!

scoob-shaggy-movie-theater-slice

Release Date: May 5th

Confession: I do not like Scooby-Doo. It doesn’t make any sense, given how many things about the property I love. Mysteries? Detectives? Spooky stuff? Groups of found families? Saturday morning cartoons? The intersection between silly comedy and gentle horror? The revelation of real identities via removing masks?! Good doggos?!?! Scooby-Doo was made for me, daddy. And yet, neither any single episode of any single cartoon spin-off, nor either of the Raja Gosnell live-action feature films ever worked for me. Why? I guess that’s a mystery not even the Mystery Machine could ever solve. And yet, a bigger one lurks on the horizon: Why, as an on-the-record non-fan of Scooby Doo, am I so excited for Scoob!? It could be in part because of its obvious heart. The film alternates between two moments in time: The present day Mystery Inc. crew (featuring a star-studded cast of Zac Efron as Fred, Will Forte as Shaggy, Gina Rodriguez as Velma, and Amanda Seyfried as Daphne), and the formative years when a younger Shaggy first met Scooby-Doo. Ubiquitous voice actor Frank Welker voices the title role in both timelines, and watching his trademark gruff “r-forward” voice coming out of a little doggo is surprisingly touching -- not to mention the fact that, according to the trailer, his and Shaggy’s meeting came from standing up to a bully (a surefire way to warm my heart). It could also be because of the contemporary sense of humor: Kelly Fremon Craig’s screenplay is on full display in the trailer, full of witticisms and character games that really tickle me. Finally, it could be because the central mystery this go-around centers not just around a genuine threat that feels hard to explain with a mask (people are trying to summon the friggin’ mythological dog Cerberus!), but around a series of goofy cameos as Hanna Barbera cartoons (Jason Isaacs as Dick Dastardly is something I need in my life immediately). Ultimately, I don’t fully know why Scoob! speaks to me so. But you best believe I’ma get myself some Scooby snacks and check it out opening weekend. - Gregory Lawrence

Soul

soul-release-date-delayed-november-2020

Release Date: June 19th

Here’s how to get me excited about a movie: Promise performers accurately playing the instruments they’re supposed to be playing. It is such a pet peeve of mine to see a close-up of an actor’s face playing an instrument, be like “Looks fine!”, wait for the camera to pan down, and instantly realize they are absolutely not playing that instrument -- whether they’re not playing any actual guitar chord, are clumsily flopping their hands on a piano, or smacking a crash cymbal behind a drum kit when there is clearly no crash cymbal hit happening. But if even in your trailer I can tell the performers at least convinced us enough to fake playing the instrument accurately, ooh do I get excited. This is a trick that’s worked on me in both live action works like La La Land and animated works like Coco. And wouldn’t ya know it, Pixar hath struck again with Soul.

The moment I saw Jamie Foxx’s music teacher/aspiring jazz musician play piano, and saw how expertly his fingers struck those chords… yes, I know they’re not real fingers, and yes I know it’s the result of computer animators being absolute technical wizards, but dammit, it moves me in my heart, body, and you know I’m about to say soul. But then the film, just like Coco before, hits us with a left turn -- Foxx’s music teacher/aspiring jazz musician, moments after securing the gig that could open everything for him, friggin’ falls into a sewer and dies! And his soul is accidentally transported into a training center for other, new souls, voiced by a bunch of ringers like Tina Fey (also a co-writer on the film). Can he help these nascent souls find their passions, get himself back to Earth in his own body, and get to the gig? I don’t know. But I do know that if Pixar combines their dexterity for emotional brutality with continuously accurate instrument playing, Soul will never stop making me cry. - Gregory Lawrence

Bob's Burgers: The Movie

bobs-burgers-the-kids-run-away-slice

Release Date: July 17th

We don’t really know much of anything about this Bob’s Burgers movie, but 10 seasons and counting of Loren Bouchard’s effortlessly charming animated Fox series have more than earned our trust. This show is consistently silly and sweet and nice, which goes a long way in this day and age. Bouchard has said the movie will be a musical, which is in line with the show’s penchant for musical numbers, and I’m eager to see what Bouchard does with an expanded budget and much longer running time.

Again, the level of quality that Bob’s Burgers has maintained for 10 seasons means there’s really no reason to be anything but psyched for their first feature film outing. – Adam Chitwood

The One and Only Ivan 

the-one-and-only-ivan-slice

Release Date: August 14th

Hopefully you’re full-on prepared to weep human tears over a silverback gorilla, because Disney is adapting The One and Only Ivan into a feature film. Based on the Newberry Medal-winning book by prolific YA author K.A. Applegate, the film follows the title primate—voiced by Oscar-winner Sam Rockwell—who lives in captivity in the Exit 8 Big Top Mall along with an elephant named Stella (Angelina Jolie) and stray dog named Bob (Danny DeVito). Tranquil mall-zoo life starts to change when Ivan is tasked with caring for a new, abused baby elephant named Ruby (Brooklynn Prince) and the custodian’s daughter, Julia (Ariana Greenblatt).

The book itself is delightful and poignant, and the fact it ended up in the hands of Disney means you know it’ll be a good old-fashioned feelings-fest. English theater director turned filmmaker Thea Sharrock (Me Before You) is in the director’s chair on this one, with a script by Mike White (School of Rock, Nacho Libre). Rounding out the genuinely kind of voice stacked cast is Helen Mirren, Bryan Cranston, and Indira Varma. - Vinnie Mancuso

The Mitchells vs. The Machines

the-mitchells-vs-the-machines
Image via Sony

Release Date: September 18th

Some of the 2010s best animation came from two independent groups: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, et al), and the creative team behind Gravity Falls. So when you give me a movie like The Mitchells vs. The Machines, and tell me that Lord and Miller are producing it, and Gravity Falls alumni Jeff Lowe and Mike Rianda are writing and directing it together, I get very excited. These folks’ styles are marked by raucous senses of humor, a postmodern sense of joy, a refreshingly mature take on the emotional issues of children (both character and audience), and a gigantic dang heart.

On this topical-feeling team-up, the Mitchells are a dysfunctional family doing their best to get through a road trip. But then: Apocalypse! Specifically, in the form of all of our pieces of technological convenience deciding they’ve had enough and turning on us. Phones, self-driving cars, helpful robots -- all of them are taking over, and it’s up to the Mitchells (alongside their undoubtedly adorable dog) to pull through, persevere, and just maybe, save the world. Additionally, the Mitchells will be joined by a couple of malfunctioning robots, inadvertent turncoats that just might be the keys to solutions we need. The flick seems to be keen on introducing concepts of Black Mirror-esque hard sci-fi to a younger audience, cut with a delightfully daffy sense of humor and relatable family drama. For all of this, and for the pedigree of talent involved, I am quite excited for The Mitchells vs. The Machines. I just hope my iPhone doesn’t, like, zap me to death before it comes out. - Gregory Lawrence

Raya and the Last Dragon

raya-and-the-last-dragon-slice

Release Date: November 25th

To be honest, we still don’t know all that much about Raya and the Last Dragon, the Walt Disney Animation original set to hit theaters in‌ November, but what we do know is enough to make it a title to put on your radar. Beyond the obvious cache that comes with being an original Disney fantasy (they haven’t run the game for decades for no reason, and a big part of that reason is their animated features are usually Good Actually,) Raya and the Last Dragon boasts an exciting creative team, including Big Hero 6‘s head of story Paul Briggs and The Iron Giants supervising animator Dean Wellins as co-directors, a script from Crazy Rich Asians screenwriter Adele Lim, and none other than the delightful Awkwafina as the voice of the title dragon alongside Cassie Steele’s Raya.

We’ve only got a basic logline (Raya teams up with a crew of misfits on a quest to find the last dragon and restore light to her kingdom Kumadra) and a glimpse at a few pieces of art, but Disney screened footage when the project was announced at D23 last year to rave reviews, especially for the stunning animation work. Altogether, Raya and the Last Dragon holds the promise of a culturally rich fantasy tale with an arsenal of creative talent. – Haleigh Foutch