Currently held by Zootopia (2016) Category of Academy Awards First awarded 74th Academy Awards | Official website oscars.org Country United States of America | |
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Awarded for The best animated film with a running time of more than 40 minutes, a significant number of the major characters animated, and at least 75 percent of the picture's running time including animation. Presented by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences People also search for Academy Award for Best Short Film (Animated) Winners & Nominees ZootopiaByron Howard - Rich Moore - Clark Spencer, Zootopia, Winner, MoanaJohn Musker - Ron Clements - Osnat Shurer, Moana, Nominee, My Life as a CourgetteClaude Barras - Max Karli, My Life as a Courgette, Nominee, The Red TurtleToshio Suzuki - Michaël Dudok de Wit, The Red Turtle, Nominee, Kubo and the Two StringsTravis Knight - Arianne Sutner, Kubo and the Two Strings, Nominee, Inside OutPete Docter - Jonas Rivera, Inside Out, Winner, Shaun the Sheep MovieMark Burton - Richard Starzak, Shaun the Sheep Movie, Nominee, AnomalisaCharlie Kaufman - Duke Johnson - Rosa Tran, Anomalisa, Nominee, Boy and the WorldAlê Abreu, Boy and the World, Nominee, When Marnie Was ThereHiromasa Yonebayashi - Yoshiaki Nishimura, When Marnie Was There, Nominee, Big Hero 6Chris Williams - Roy Conli - Don Hall, Big Hero 6, Winner, The Tale of Princess KaguyaIsao Takahata - Yoshiaki Nishimura, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Nominee, How to Train Your Dragon 2Dean DeBlois - Bonnie Arnold, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Nominee, The BoxtrollsTravis Knight - Graham Annable - Anthony Stacchi, The Boxtrolls, Nominee, Song of the SeaTomm Moore - Paul Young, Song of the Sea, Nominee, FrozenJennifer Lee - Chris Buck - Peter Del Vecho, Frozen, Winner, The Wind RisesHayao Miyazaki - Toshio Suzuki, The Wind Rises, Nominee, The CroodsChris Sanders - Kirk DeMicco - Kristine Belson, The Croods, Nominee, Despicable Me 2Pierre Coffin - Chris Renaud - Chris Meledandri, Despicable Me 2, Nominee, Ernest & CelestineBenjamin Renner - Didier Brunner, Ernest & Celestine, Nominee, BraveBrenda Chapman - Mark Andrews, Brave, Winner, FrankenweenieTim Burton, Frankenweenie, Nominee, Wreck-It RalphRich Moore, Wreck-It Ralph, Nominee, ParaNormanSam Fell - Chris Butler, ParaNorman, Nominee, The Pirates! Band of MisfitsPeter Lord, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, Nominee | ||
The Academy Awards are given each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the best films and achievements of the previous year. The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is given each year for animated films. An animated feature is defined by the academy as a film with a running time of more than 40 minutes in which characters' performances are created using a frame-by-frame technique, a significant number of the major characters are animated, and animation figures in no less than 75 percent of the running time. The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was first given for films made in 2001.
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Academy Award nominations and winners are chosen by the members of the AMPAS. If there are sixteen or more films submitted for the category, the winner is voted from a shortlist of five films, which has happened six times, otherwise there will only be three films on the shortlist. Additionally, eight eligible animated features must have been theatrically released in Los Angeles County within the calendar year for this category to be activated.
Animated films can be nominated for other categories, but have rarely been so; Beauty and the Beast (1991) was the first animated film ever nominated for Best Picture. Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010) also received Best Picture nominations after the Academy expanded the number of nominees.
Waltz with Bashir (2008) is the only animated film ever nominated for Best Foreign Language Film (though it did not receive a nomination for Best Animated Feature). The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) are the two only animated films to ever be nominated for Best Visual Effects.
History
For much of the Academy Awards' history, AMPAS was resistant to the idea of a regular Oscar for animated features considering there were simply too few produced to justify such consideration. Instead, the Academy occasionally bestowed special Oscars for exceptional productions, usually for Walt Disney Pictures, such as for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1938, and the Special Achievement Academy Award for the live action/animated hybrid Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1989 and Toy Story in 1996. In fact, prior to the creation of the award, only one animated film received a Best Picture nomination: 1991's Beauty and the Beast, also by Walt Disney Pictures.
By 2001, the rise of sustained competitors to Disney in the feature animated film market, such as DreamWorks Animation, created an increase of film releases of significant annual number enough for AMPAS to reconsider. The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was first given out at the 74th Academy Awards, held on March 24, 2002. The Academy included a rule that stated that the award would not be presented in a year in which fewer than eight eligible films opened in theaters.
People in the animation industry and fans expressed hope that the prestige from this award and the resulting boost to the box office would encourage the increased production of animated features. Some members and fans have criticized the award, however, saying it is only intended to prevent animated films from having a chance of winning Best Picture. This criticism was particularly prominent at the 81st Academy Awards, in which WALL-E won the award but was not nominated for Best Picture, despite receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and moviegoers and being generally considered one of the best films of 2008.
This led to controversy over whether the film was deliberately snubbed of the nomination by the Academy. Film critic Peter Travers commented that "If there was ever a time where an animated feature deserved to be nominated for Best Picture, it's WALL-E." However, official Academy Award regulations state that any movie nominated for this category can still be nominated for Best Picture.
In 2009, when the nominee slots for Best Picture were doubled to ten, Up was nominated for both Best Animated Feature and Best Picture at the 82nd Academy Awards, the first film to do so since the creation of the Animated Feature category. This feat was repeated the following year by Toy Story 3. In 2010, the Academy enacted a new rule regarding the performance capture technique employed in films such as Disney's A Christmas Carol from Robert Zemeckis and The Adventures of Tintin from Steven Spielberg, and how they might not be eligible in this category in the future. This rule was possibly made to prevent nominations of live-action films that rely heavily on motion capture, such as James Cameron's Avatar.
When the category was first instated, the nomination went to the person(s) most involved in creating the winning film. This could be the producer, the director, or both. For the 76th Academy Awards in 2004, only the director(s) of the film received the nomination. For the 86th Academy Awards ten years later, this was amended to include one producer and up to two directors.
Foreign language films
The Academy Awards have also nominated a number of non-English-language films.
All the Japanese films on this list have also been released with English-language dubbing.