Oscar Predictions: Best Animated Feature

This year, Oscar nominations will be announced on Monday, January 13th. I’ll be offering detailed predictions in most of the major categories.

Last year’s nominees: Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Mirai, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

My choices: Coming next week!

This year’s locks: Toy Story 4, Missing Link

Very likely: Frozen II

Possible: I Lost My Body, Klaus, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Unlikely: Abominable, Weathering with You, Bunuel in the Labyrinth of Turtles

The rundown: Two years in a row now, the Golden Globe lineup has matched this list entirely. While that’s still possible this time, it’s far from guaranteed. Of the three sequels in contention, Toy Story 4 and Frozen II feel safer than How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, but it’s hard to know. Globe winner Missing Link isn’t in much danger of being snubbed, and the fifth Globe nominee, “The Lion King,” wasn’t submitted. Two Netflix productions seem like they might be able to crack this field: I Lost My Body and Klaus. Despite its Critics Choice and PGA nominations, Abominable isn’t looking like it’s going to earn a slot. I’m hoping for two foreign-language GKIDS films, Weathering with You and Bunuel in the Labyrinth of Turtles, but neither seems to have built up enough steam at this point. There are also twenty-three other eligible films, but I wouldn’t count on any of those to upset.

Forecasted winner: I think Missing Link repeats after the Globes.