The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced that 20 films have been submitted for consideration in the Best Animated Feature category for the upcoming 87th Annual Academy Awards.
The number of nominations in the category is tied to the number of eligible films, with a field of at least 16 required for five nominees. In addition, films must receive an average grade of 7.5 on a scale of 6 to 10 to be eligible for nomination. However, some of the flicks vying for the spots have yet to have a qualifying theatrical run in Los Angeles.
The category was created for the 2001 Oscars – and for the first 10 years of its existence, it only had five nominees twice, in 2002 and 2009. The eight other years, it had only three nominees. The nominations will be announced live on 15 January in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre.
Twenty movies that have sent in their entries for Oscars are: Big Hero 6 (Disney/Marvel), The Book of Life (Reel FX/Fox), The Boxtrolls (LAIKA/Focus), Cheatin’(Bill Plympton), Giovanni’s Island (Production I.G, Japan), Henry and Me (Reveal Animation Studios), The Hero of Color City (Exodus Film Group), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (DreamWorks/Fox), Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (EuropaCorp, France), Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return (Summertime Entertainment), The LEGO Movie (Animal Logic/WB), Minuscule – Valley of the Lost Ants (Futurikon/Entre Chien et Loup/Nozon, France), Mr. Peabody and Sherman (DreamWorks/Fox), Penguins of Madagascar (DreamWorks/Fox), The Pirate Fairy (Disney), Planes: Fire and Rescue (Disney), Rio 2 (Blue Sky/Fox), Rocks in My Pockets (Signe Baumane, Canada along with the Irish film Song of the Sea and the Japanese film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya .
The Oscars will be held on Sunday, 22 February, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on ABC. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
