2025 Oscars Best Animated Feature Predictions
Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.
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2025 Oscars Predictions:
Best Animated Feature
Weekly Commentary (Updated Aug. 22, 2024): A year brimming with robots, cats, snails, and a spectrum of complex emotions marks what could be another landmark year for animated features vying for Oscar consideration.
DreamWorks Animation, celebrating its 30th anniversary, is poised to enter the race with Chris Sanders’ “The Wild Robot,” an adaptation of the beloved book series. With the voice talents of Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal and a high-profile world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, the studio that won the first-ever animated feature Oscar with “Shrek” (2001) aims to secure the first non-Disney animated film nomination for best picture.
Before Optimus Prime and Megatron became mortal enemies, Oscar-winner Josh Cooley (“Toy Story 4”) explores the origins of the car-robot in “Transformers One” from Paramount Pictures. Speaking of origins, Grammy Award-winning musician Pharrell Williams will have his life story told through the lens of Lego animation in Focus Features’ upcoming “Piece by Piece,” directed by Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville and set to debut at Telluride before heading to TIFF.
Netflix will juggle five movies from its animation slate.
Shannon Tindle’s “Ultraman: Rising,” an adaptation of the famous Japanese superhero franchise, is already generating buzz, along with its anime counterpart “The Imaginary” from director Yoshiyuki Momose, which has garnered solid reviews. The streamer will also present Vicky Jenson’s “Spellbound,” produced by Skydance Animation and John Lasseter, featuring music from eight-time Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken. Additionally, Simon Otto’s “That Christmas,” from a screenplay by Richard Curtis and an original song by Ed Sheeran, along with Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park’s stop-motion sequel “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” round out their offerings.
Pixar’s joyful sequel, “Inside Out 2,” already surpassing “Frozen II” as the highest-grossing animated movie in history, is expected to be a strong contender for a nomination, given that its predecessor won the category. Disney will seek recognition in other areas, such as adapted screenplay and, yes, even best picture, which is a real possibility.
Emotionally moving animals will put voters’ tear ducts into overdrive this season with entries like Gints Zilbalodis’ “Flow” from Janus Films and Sideshow, an Oscar hopeful representing Latvia in the international feature category, and Adam Elliot’s “Memoir of a Snail” from IFC, aiming for love in the original screenplay category.
As the best picture landscape appears crowded with major studios, notable IPs, and sequels, isn’t it time for animation to be more consistently considered? Recent frontrunners in the animated feature category have garnered significant critical and industry support, positioning them for Best Picture nominations and other technical recognitions. Films like “Soul” (2020), “Flee” (2021), “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (2022), “The Boy and the Heron” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (2023) have come close. Despite historic noms seeming likely in artisan categories like production design, editing, and visual effects, they have all failed to be nominated. When will the Academy (and other industry guilds) fully embrace the medium?
While Cannes received the lion’s share of early awards contender chats for festivals, it was the Annecy Animation Festival in June that had critics, pundits, and industry professionals excited for what’s ahead. Attendees were treated to early footage of “Moana 2” and capitalized on other hopefuls such as Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Most Precious of Cargoes,” which Peter Debruge, Variety’s chief film critic, praised in his review.
Animated films are seldom recognized outside the animated feature race. To date, only three animated films have been nominated for Best Picture: “Beauty and the Beast” (1991), “Up” (2009), and “Toy Story 3” (2010).
Isn’t it time for the fourth (or fifth, sixth, and seventh)?
Read: All Primetime Emmy predictions in every category on Variety’s Awards Circuit.
** denotes the film is not yet dated or can open in 2025.
And the Predicted Nominees Are
Rank | Performer & Film |
|---|---|
1 | “The Wild Robot” (DreamWorks Animation) |
2 | “Inside Out 2” (Pixar) |
3 | “Piece by Piece” (Focus Features) |
4 | “Memoir of a Snail” (IFC Films) |
5 | “Flow” (Janus Films/Sideshow) |
Next in Line
Rank | Performer & Film |
|---|---|
6 | “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” (Netflix) |
7 | “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” (Warner Bros.) |
8 | “Ultraman: Rising” (Netflix) |
9 | “Transformers One” (Paramount Pictures) |
10 | “The Colors Within” (GKids) |
Eligible Titles (Best Animated Feature)
** This list is incomplete and not yet finalized. Not all films have distribution or release dates, and all are subject to change.
“Boonie Bears: Time Twist” (Fantawild)
“Chicken for Linda” (GKids)
“The Colors Within” (GKids)
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To the Hashira Training” (Toho)
“Despicable Me 4” (Illumination/Universal Pictures)
“Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram” (Toho)
“Flow” (Janus Films/Sideshow)
“The Garfield Movie” (Sony Pictures)
“Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle” (Toho)
“The Imaginary” (Netflix)
“Inside Out 2” (Pixar)
“Johnny Puff: Secret Mission” (Méliès Producciones)
“Kung Fu Panda 4” (DreamWorks Animation)
“The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” (Warner Bros.)
“Lucy” (GKids)
“Memoir of a Snail” (IFC Films)
“Moana 2” (Walt Disney Pictures)
“Piece by Piece” (Focus Features)
“That Christmas” (Netflix)
“Transformers One” (Paramount Pictures)
“Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” (Netflix)
“Ultraman: Rising” (Netflix)
“The Wild Robot” (DreamWorks Animation)
More Information (Oscars: Best Animated Feature)
2024 category winner: “The Boy and the Heron” (GKids) — Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
2024-2025 Oscars Calendar and Timeline – Full awards season calendar here
Eligibility period: Jan. 1, 2024 – Dec. 31, 2024
General entry, best picture, RAISE submission deadline: Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024
Governors Awards: Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024
Preliminary voting begins Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, at 9 a.m. PT.
Preliminary voting ends Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, at 5 p.m. PT.
Oscar Shortlists Announcement: Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024
Eligibility period ends: Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024
Nominations voting begins Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, at 9 a.m. PT.
Nominations voting ends Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, at 5 p.m. PT.
Oscar Nominations Announcement: Friday, Jan. 17, 2025
Oscar Nominees Luncheon: Monday, Feb. 10, 2025
Final voting begins Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, at 9 a.m. PT
Final voting ends: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, at 5 p.m. PT
Scientific and Technical Awards: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025
97th Oscars: Sunday, March 2, 2025
Oscars Prediction Categories
— | — |
|---|---|
Original Screenplay | Adapted Screenplay |
Animated Feature | Production Design |
Cinematography | Costume Design |
Film Editing | Makeup and Hairstyling |
Sound | Visual Effects |
Original Score | Original Song |
Documentary Feature | International Feature |
Animated Short | Documentary Short |
Live Action Short | Casting (coming in 2026) |
About the Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, is Hollywood’s most prestigious artistic award in the film industry. Since 1927, nominees and winners have been selected by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Seventeen branches are represented within the nearly 10,000-person membership. The branches are actors, associates, casting directors, cinematographers, costume designers, directors, documentary, executives, film editors, makeup and hairstylists, marketing and public relations, members-at-large, members-at-large (artists’ representatives), music, producers, production design, short films and feature animation, sound, visual effects and writers.
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