The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed today the 32 films that have been submitted for consideration in the Best Animated Feature Oscar category, and Disney’s The Lion King is not among them. Since the film hit theaters and dominated the box office earlier this year, debate raged on whether it’s actually a “live-action remake” as it was marketed, or if it’s an animated film. In truth there’s only one live-action shot in the whole movie, while the rest was created using cutting-edge visual effects to craft photoreal versions of the characters. So yes, the characters are CG, but they’re not presented as “animated” characters in the traditional sense.

Indeed, Disney opted not to submit The Lion King for Best Animated Feature consideration, so it will not be presented as such. It is, however, expected to be a major player in the Best Visual Effects race.

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Image via Disney

Among the films that are vying for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, we have Disney’s upcoming Frozen II and Pixar’s Toy Story 4, DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World and Abominable, Warner Bros.’ The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (a film that, I assure you, did actually come out this year), and Illumination Entertainment’s The Secret Life of Pets 2. LAIKA’s Missing Link is also competing, and Netflix is entering the race with the upcoming holiday film Klaus and the indie I Lost My Body.

Also of note, acclaimed filmmaker Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal – Tales of Savagery is being submitted as a film, despite airing in chunks on Adult Swim.

Notably absent from the list is Aardman Animations’ A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, which hits domestic theaters in December. It’s unclear why it was not submitted.

As for who the frontrunner is, traditionally a Disney or Pixar film wins this category (more often Disney than Pixar in recent years), so the safe bets are on either Toy Story 4 or, if it has the goods, Frozen II. We’ll find out when the Oscars take place on February 9, 2020. Nominations will be announced on January 13, 2020.

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Image via Disney/Pixar

Check out the list of animated films submitted for consideration below, and click here for my current Best Picture predictions.

Abominable

The Addams Family

The Angry Birds Movie 2

Another Day of Life

Away

Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles

Children of the Sea

Dilili in Paris

Frozen II

Funan

Genndy Tartakovsky’s ‘Primal’ – Tales of Savagery

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

I Lost My Body

Klaus

The Last Fiction

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Marona’s Fantastic Tale

Missing Link

Ne Zha

Okko’s Inn

Pachamama

Promare

Rezo

The Secret Life of Pets 2

Spies in Disguise

The Swallows of Kabul

This Magnificent Cake!

The Tower

Toy Story 4

Upin & Ipin: The Lone Gibbon Kris

Weathering with You

White Snake