Oscar Predictions: Best Animated Feature

This year, Oscar nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 24th. I’ll be offering detailed predictions in most of the major categories, saving some of the biggest categories for last.

Last year’s nominees: Anomalisa, Boy and the World, Inside Out, Shaun the Sheep Movie, When Marnie Was There

This year’s locks: Zootopia, Moana, Kubo and the Two Strings

Very likely: My Life as a Zucchini

Possible: The Red Turtle, Finding Dory, April and the Extraordinary World, Sing, The Little Prince

Unlikely: Sausage Party, the other 12 contenders

The rundown: It’s hard to hold on to anything in this category after sure thing “The Lego Movie” was snubbed two years ago and then “The Good Dinosaur” was snubbed last year. What’s different about this year is that, from the humongous twenty-two-wide field, there aren’t that many frontrunners. In fact, there are only three films that I’d consider sue things: Zootopia, Moana, and Kubo and the Two Strings. I don’t think any of those will be snubbed because they’re so highly regarded, though I guess you never know. Foreign contender My Life as a Zucchini will likely be nominated, and I’ll bet on Studio Ghibli’s The Red Turtle to score over fifth Golden Globe nominee Sing. It’s possible that, despite early snubs, Finding Dory will defy sequel tendencies and score a nomination. Other possibilities include April and the Extraordinary World and The Little Prince. If voters are feeling like something adult, Sausage Party might just be their choice.

One possible crazy scenario: No one would ever have expected Angry Birds to be made into an Oscar-nominated film – can it happen?

Forecasted winner: I think it goes to frontrunner Zootopia.