With the Academy’s nominations announcement drawing closer by the day, it’s time to lay it all on the line with my final Oscar nomination predictions. We’ve got three solid contenders for the five Best Animated Feature nomination spots. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Boy and the Heron, and Elemental have all nabbed nominations from BAFTA, the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Producers Guild of America, so they all seem like sure bets by this point. While the latter missed a nomination at the Annie Awards, it’s likely just a blip. We know the Academy can rarely resist a Pixar project.
Nimona had a huge showing at the Annie nominations, which proved the love is there with the Animation branch of the Academy. That’s enough for me to consider it locked for one of the spots. That leaves the final place open to a number of contenders. It could be box office juggernaut The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but its style just doesn’t have the originality of something like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and I think that’s more likely of a nom here.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE PREDICTIONS:
1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures) – ANNIE, BAFTA, CCA, GG, PGA
2. The Boy and the Heron (GKIDS) – ANNIE, BAFTA, CCA, GG, PGA
3. Elemental (Pixar) – BAFTA, CCA, GG, PGA
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount Pictures) – ANNIE, CCA, PGA
5. Nimona (Netflix) – ANNIE, CCA
Alternate: The Super Mario Bros. Movie – Annie, GG, PGA