Animated Features of 2021... and first Oscar Predictions!
Friday, May 28, 2021 at 3:40PM by Nathaniel R
This past year wasn't a particularly great one for animation but hope springs eternal and maybe we'll have a more competitive Oscar race next February? This will be the 21st year of the Best Animated Feature Oscar race. With 20 years of statistics we know what Oscar voters go for in this category and what they don't. They generally turn their noses up at sequels (unless they absolutely adored the first one). They will always honor at least one international title (but usually two) with a nomination, but they won't give them the win unless they absolutely have to. The animation studios Cartoon Saloon, Laika, and Aardman are widely respected by animators and will always be nominated if they're eligible... but it usually stops there as the wider voting body on the "win" defaults to big American studio animation and 70% of the time (literally) the wins go to the Mouse House for either Disney or Pixar titles. When it comes to animated titles from overseas they're a bit like they are with the Best International Feature category (even though it's different voters) in that they generally ignore Asian animation (with the exception of Studio Ghibli) and prefer European titles.
With the recent announcement of the competitive line-up for the 2021 Annecy festival (one of the four most important animation events each year) we have a better sense of which international titles might crop up this year in the circles that love animated films. Surely at least some of these will submit to the Oscar race as well. So here's as many animated features as we could find that might delight animation-loving cinephiles this year