2025 Oscars: Best Animated Feature Predictions

Nominations voting is from January 8-12, 2025, with official Oscar nominations introduced January 17, 2025. Last voting is February 11-18, 2025. And eventually, the 97th Oscars telecast will likely be broadcast on Sunday, March 2 and air dwell on ABC at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT. We replace our picks via awards season, so maintain checking IndieWire for all our 2025 Oscar predictions.

“Inside Out 2” (Pixar/Disney) has turn into the Greatest Animated Function Oscar favourite because the 12 months’s field workplace phenomenon ($1.6 billion worldwide, a primary for animation), placing Pixar again on high theatrically after its current drought. The opposite frontrunners embody “The Wild Robotic” (DreamWorks/Common), Annecy winner “Memoir of a Snail” (IFC),” Ottawa winner “Circulation” (Sideshow/Janus Movies), and “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” (Aardman/Netflix).

Nonetheless to come back are “Moana 2” (Disney) and “The Lord of the Rings: The Conflict of the Rohirrim” (Warner Bros. Footage/New Line), however it’s already a really aggressive discipline.

Nonetheless, there are some darkish horses: “Ultraman: Rising” (Netflix), the directorial debut of animation vet Shannon Tindle, who reimagines the legendary anime franchise from Tsuburaya Productions as a sci-fi journey, and “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Film,” the 2D Daffy Duck and Porky Pig sci-fi journey, which Ketchup Leisure picked up theatrically from Warner Bros. Discovery. After premiering on the Animation Is Movie Pageant, it would have an Oscar qualifying run earlier than its theatrical launch on February 28, 2025.

For the follow-up to Pete Docter’s imaginative Oscar winner, “Inside Out,” beginner director Kelsey Mann tapped into nervousness as the latest and most resonant emotion for 13-year-old Riley (Kensington Tallman), and audiences responded past expectation. Voiced brilliantly by Maya Hawke, the hyper-active, orange, and stringy Anxiousness mounts a hostile takeover of Riley’s feelings with cohorts Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), and Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser). It’s as much as Pleasure (Amy Poehler) to set issues proper with Disappointment (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Concern (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Liza Lapira).

Whereas Riley goes into overdrive to impress at summer season hockey camp, Pleasure and the regulars try to revive Riley’s Perception System and Sense of Self, which signify the newest world-building wonders from Pixar. The previous is a glowing, translucent setting with a river and pulsing strings that replay Riley’s reminiscences, whereas the latter is the crystal-shaped basis of her evolving identification. There’s additionally extra inside/out forwards and backwards and display time for Riley. Additionally, Pixar takes the uncommon retro alternative of exploring the 2D canine and fanny pack stars of Riley’s favourite preschool present “Bloofy’s Home.”

“The Wild Robotic,” from director Chris Sanders (“Easy methods to Prepare Your Dragon”), poses the strongest competitors for the Oscar because the main non-sequel. Tailored from Peter Brown’s illustrated ebook, the sci-fi journey follows robotic Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), who washes ashore on an uninhabited island and should adapt and dwell among the many animals, ultimately adopting an orphaned gosling chicken (Equipment Connor), Brightbill. Becoming a member of Roz and Brightbill on their wilderness journey is Fink, the fox (Pedro Pascal), and alongside the way in which, they encounter Catherine O’Hara as opossum Pinktail and Invoice Nighy as aged goose Longneck.

The movie is DreamWorks’ finest since “Easy methods to Prepare Your Dragon,” exploring the connection between know-how and nature and the notion that kindness generally is a survival ability. DreamWorks embraces an impressionistic 2D aesthetic (impressed by Tyrus Wong’s legendary watercolor backgrounds in “Bambi” and Hayao Miyazaki’s lush forests) that’s probably the most spectacular hand-drawn stylization for the reason that influential “Spider-Verse.” Because of new tech, DreamWorks hand-painted the entire environments as mattes whereas additionally making use of 2D textures and shaders to Roz and the assorted animals. The extra time Roz spends within the wild, the extra her floor adjustments with dents, scratches, mildew, and mildew. She in a short time turns into a hand-painted floor, mixing in with the animals and the wilderness.

“Memoir of a Snail,” which took this 12 months’s Annecy Cristal Award, is the second stop-motion function from Adam Elliot (“Mary and Max”), the claymation grasp of monochromatic melancholy. The semi-autobiographical story considerations unhappy, lonely, and snail-hoarding Gracie (Sarah Snook), who narrates her life story in a letter to favourite snail, Sylvia. She particulars her lifetime of mistreatment and the trauma that led to her retreating from life. Gracie pines for her long-lost twin brother Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who’s had it tough as properly on the opposite aspect of the nation with an abusive spiritual cult.

“Circulation,” Latvia’s worldwide function Oscar entry, is a chic, dialogue-free journey from director Gints Zilbalodis (“Away”). It’s about an earth inhabited by animals, by which a black cat is compelled to outlive the aftermath of a flood on a ship with a capybara, lemur, stork, and golden retriever. Animated within the open-source Blender with its real-time engine, the CG animals have a mushy high quality whereas the environments are sharper. Zilbalodis achieves an immersion along with his roving digicam, and is served properly by his animation workforce based mostly in Latvia, France, and Belgium.

“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” (Netflix/Aardman), directed by franchise creator Nick Park and artistic director Merlin Crossingham, marks the feature-length return of Aardman’s favourite stop-motion buddies. It’s about an out-of-control “sensible gnome” with a thoughts of its personal. The fiendish plot additionally includes fan-favorite Feathers McGraw, the villainous penguin from the Oscar-winning brief “The Unsuitable Trousers.”

“Ultraman: Rising” represents Tindle’s ardour mission, which personalizes Extremely-Man as an ode to parenthood and attaining stability in life. Baseball famous person Ken Sato (Christopher Sean) has issue preventing kaiju in Tokyo as a household obligation, and is additional examined when compelled to undertake a 35-foot, fire-breathing child kaiju woman. Tindle (“Misplaced Ollie”) tapped ILM (the VFX powerhouse’s first animated function for the reason that Oscar-winning “Rango”) to sort out a shocking 2D aesthetic combining manga and anime, coupled with dynamic digicam strikes and lighting.

“The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Film” stars Daffy and Porky (each voiced by Eric Bauza) within the franchise’s first totally 2D-animated theatrical function. It’s a pleasant shock, directed by Pete Browngardt (“Looney Tunes Cartoons”), by which the duo uncover a secret alien plot to take over the world through mind-control and chewing gum.

“Piece by Piece” (Focus Options), the documentary about musical icon Pharrell Williams from Oscar-winning director Morgan Neville (“20 Ft from Stardom”), makes use of an impressed conceit from Williams: It’s a LEGO animated brickfilm, which completely captures the artist’s sense of marvel. Pure Creativeness and Tongal produced the visible storytelling with the know-how of Unreal Engine. The narrative is wrapped round Neville’s interviews with Williams and a bunch of different artists in his life, together with Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay Z, and Snoop Dogg.

“Moana 2” started as a Disney+ sequence on the studio’s new Vancouver studio, however then transitioned to a function amidst early reward, increasing its story, scope, and animation, with help from the Burbank studio. Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller, Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) returns to search out the misplaced island of Motufetu, hidden by the jealous God of Storms, to reconnect the entire communities of Oceania. Demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) is again, however the sequel introduces child sister Simea (Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda) and new crew members. Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i return as composers and co-songwriters, joined by songwriters Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear.

ILM additionally labored on “Transformers One” (Paramount), the franchise’s animated spinoff from Oscar-winning “Toy Story 4” director Josh Cooley. It’s a brand new origin story, exploring an untapped subterranean robotic world with its personal aesthetic, scale, and scope. We’re launched to the longer term Optimus Prime and Megatron as Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry), and their story and journey has its roots in “Ben-Hur.”

“The Lord of the Rings: The Conflict of the Rohirrim” marks the primary anime movie within the franchise, with Kenji Kamiyama directing the 2D prequel (Sola Leisure translated the 2D from performance-captured periods utilizing the Unreal Engine). It explores the tragic penalties of struggle and revenge, telling the story of Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox), the legendary king of Rohan, and his household, as they defend their kingdom in opposition to the ruthless Dunlendings, dominated by Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), the lord of Dunland, who seeks revenge for the loss of life of his father. The movie is narrated by Rohan descendant and future shieldmaiden Éowyn (Miranda Otto).

“That Christmas” (Netflix/Locksmith Animation) finds screenwriter Richard Curtis adapting his trio of books in regards to the vacation right into a “Love Truly” riff. “Easy methods to Prepare Your Dragon” animation vet Simon Otto directs with a candy and absurd contact. It’s animated by Double Destructive with an illustrative aesthetic. The voice solid is led by Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker, Lolly Adefope, and Alex Macqueen, and the rating is by John Powell (the “Easy methods to Prepare Your Dragon” franchise).

“Hen for Linda” (GKids), final 12 months’s Annecy Cristal winner, is a captivating, hand-painted French-Italian musical comedy, directed by the married duo Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach (the animated “The Woman With out Palms”). It explores reminiscence and mother-daughter bonding in what turns into a wild chase to catch a rooster to make rooster and peppers. It combines the spontaneity of the French New Wave with “All That Jazz”-inspired musical numbers. The entire characters are color-coded (Linda, the kid, is yellow), they usually add coloration blotches to black brushstrokes that bleed over the character strains.

“Look Again” (GKids), from first-time director Kiyotaka Oshiyama (“The Boy and the Heron” animator), is tailored from the critically acclaimed manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto (“Chainsaw Man”). It’s in regards to the highs and lows of artistic collaboration between Fujino, who’s compelled to share house in her comics part of the highschool newspaper with Kyomoto, a social misfit whose stunning art work sparks a aggressive fervor in her.

“The Colours Inside” (GKids), the acclaimed anime directed by Naoko Yamada (“A Silent Voice”), from Japanese animation studio Science SARU, considerations a highschool pupil who varieties a band with the flexibility to see the “colours” of others (bliss, pleasure, serenity).

“The Glassworker,” Pakistan’s worldwide function Oscar entry, is a 2D drama, directed by Usman Riaz, about younger Vincent and his father Tomas, who run the best glass workshop within the nation and discover their lives upended by an impending struggle by which they need no half.

Potential nominees are listed in alphabetical order; no movie will likely be deemed a frontrunner till now we have seen it.

“Circulation”
“Inside Out 2”
“Memoir of a Snail”
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”
“The Wild Robotic”

“Hen for Linda”
“The Colours Inside”
“The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Film”
“Look Again”
“The Glassworker”
“The Lord of the Rings: The Conflict of the Rohirrim”
“Moana 2”
“Piece by Piece”
“That Christmas”
“Transformers One”
“Ultraman: Rising”