In the end, the Best Animated-Feature category hit its magic number with room to spare. The Academy announced on Friday that 18 films have qualified to compete in the category for this year’s Oscars, meaning that the field will have five nominees for only the third time in the category’s 10-year existence.
A field of 16 is required to trigger the move to five nominees. This is the second-biggest year for entries in the category; two years ago, 20 films qualified. Several of the films still have to complete their week-long qualifying runs to become eligible.
The list of qualifying films include ‘The Adventures of Tintin’, ‘Happy Feet Two’ and ‘Mars Needs Moms’, all of which were made using the motion-capture technique. Academy rules specify that the technique in itself does not qualify as animation, but the filmmakers were asked to speak about their intent in using the process to the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch, which ruled that all three were eligible.
Also read: Will the Academy Deny Spielberg an Animated Film Oscar for ‘Tintin’? The Foreign-Language entry from the Czech Republic, ‘Alois Nebel’, which uses the rotoscope technique, also qualified. The list of 18 films included one, ‘Wrinkles’, a Spanish-language, adult-oriented work set in an old-age home. The film came out of the blue and virtually never figured into category-watchers’ forecasts of what films would make up the field.
Unlike most recent years, there is no prohibitive frontrunner in the category at this point. While a string of Pixar films have been clear favorites and eventual winners for four consecutive years (‘Ratatouille’, ‘Wall-E’, ‘Up’, ‘Toy Story 3’), this year’s ‘Cars 2’ is not the runaway favorite.
Among the films expected to compete with ‘Cars 2’ for the award are DreamWorks’ ‘Puss in Boots,’ Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Adventures of Tintin,’ Gore Verbinski’s ‘Rango’ and Blue Sky Studios’ ‘Rio’ – though in a notably unsettled year in the category, nominations could easily go to smaller movies on the list as well.
