18 animated feature films submitted for awards consideration

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Eighteen feature films have been submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for awards consideration in the animated feature film category. As expected, the performance-capture films ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ from Paramount, Warner Bros.’ ‘Happy Feet Two’ and Disney’s ‘Mars Needs Moms,’ have been submitted in the animated category.

Other big titles looking for love from the animation branch include Pixar’s ‘Cars 2’ and Paramount’s ‘Rango,’ with some studios submitting two titles for possible recognition. Dreamworks Animation has entered both ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’ and the recently released ‘Puss in Boots.’ Sony Pictures has thrown both ‘Smurfs’ and the upcoming ‘Arthur Christmas’ into the ring, while Twentieth Century Fox is putting both this spring’s ‘Rio,’ and the upcoming ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked’ into possible consideration.

Smaller titles such as the Czech Republic’s black-and-white rotoscope film ‘Alois Nebel,’ which is also the country’s entry in the foreign language film category, the French film ‘A Cat in Paris,’ and Spain’s ‘Chico & Rita’ and ‘Wrinkles’ have also been submitted for consideration.

One title noticeably absent from the list is Universal’s ‘Hop.’ The film is a mixture of live action and animation, one that might not have qualified under the animation branch’s rules that at least 75% of the film’s run time has to feature animation and a significant number of the main characters must be animated. Both ‘Smurfs’ and ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ are mixed-medium films, but the previous two ‘Chipmunk’ features have qualified for consideration, suggesting the current title could as well.

The academy clarifies that many of the films submitted still need to meet their Los Angeles qualifying runs before the end of the calendar year. Should all 18 films qualify for consideration, the Oscars could see five nominees in the animated feature category.

-- Nicole Sperling