Every year, the Academy Award for best animated feature is always one of the most highly anticipated contests. Will it go to Disney/Pixar? Will it go to someone else because Disney/Pixar didn’t put out a movie that year? Will the someone else be Dreamworks? Obviously, the answer to at least one of those has to be “yes,” and we couldn’t be more excited to find out which one it will be this time.
Thankfully, the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences—henceforth “The Academy”—has already announced the 20 animated movies that have been submitted for Oscar nomination consideration, so we’re ready to start making some predictions of which five will actually get nominated. Other than obvious picks like The Lego Movie, Disney’s Big Hero 6, and Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon 2, the list also includes some deeper animated cuts like The Book Of Life, The Boxtrolls, Giovanni’s Island, The Hero Of Color City, Henry And Me, Jack And The Cuckoo-Clock Heart, Minuscule—Valley Of The Lost Ants, Rio 2, Rocks In My Pockets, The Pirate Fairy, Cheatin’, Song Of The Sea, Penguins Of Madagascar, and The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya—all of which are movies that we, as experts, have definitely heard of.
Now, while some of those were made by Dreamworks, Disney, or Pixar, we’re actually going to put our hypothetical money on the true underdog candidates: the flops. If The Academy wants to impress people by not simply throwing the nominations at the most famous movies, then it should go with less-predictable films like Planes: Fire And Rescue, Peabody And Sherman, or—better yet—Legends Of Oz: Dorothy’s Return. Nobody will see those nominations coming, because nobody saw those movies. Also, Pixar and Dreamworks could stand to lose for once.