The 2016 Oscar race is shaping up, more so for Animated Feature. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced 16 movies that have been submitted for Oscar consideration in the category. Some of them haven’t debuted in theaters yet, while others might have been included in your mid-way list of the best films of 2015. (One of them was in ours!)
In alphabetical order, the films submitted are: Anomalisa, The Boy and the Beast, Boy and the World, The Good Dinosaur, Home, Hotel Transylvania 2, Inside Out, Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, The Laws of the Universe - Part 0, Minions, Moomins on the Riviera, The Peanuts Movie, Regular Show: The Movie, Shaun the Sheep Movie, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water, and When Marnie Was There.
Some of these titles need no introduction, but then there are those like Anomalisa. The film from Charlie Kaufman is a stop-motion feature about an unmotivated author and motivational speaker who meets an extraordinary woman. Our own Matt Goldberg caught it when making the rounds at the Toronto International Film Festival and wrote it feels “completely fresh and totally brilliant.” While early predictions see this as getting a nom, it’ll have some major competition when going up against Inside Out.
It’s hard to imagine Pixar not getting one of the spots, considering how many of their works were not only strong contenders but winners in years’ past. Inside Out seems it’ll continue the animation studio’s strong streak for being universally entertaining and emotional all at once. Although, The Good Dinosaur doesn’t come out in theaters until November 25th, so perhaps Pixar’s forgotten child will blow us all out of the water.
However, we shouldn’t discredit others, like Shaun the Sheep (which earned enough at the box office to warrant a sequel), Minions (which helped Universal receive a record year in ticket sales), and the Studio Ghibli tale When Marnie Was There. Toss out your predictions while we continue our trek through awards season.
The 2016 Oscars will be hosted by Chris Rock on Sunday, February 28th.
