^{Credit: Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (GKIDS) & KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix, Sony Pictures Animation)}

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain has won Best Animated Film at the 51st Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. KPop Demon Hunters was also recognized as the category’s runner-up. GKIDS picked up Little Amélie as a U.S. distributor following its Cannes debut earlier this year. Directed by Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han, this French film is an adaptation of Amélie Nothomb’s novel. It tells a simple yet layered story through the eyes of its titular character, as her ever-expanding mind soaks in the sometimes beautiful, sometimes intimidating world around her. KPop Demon Hunters needs no introduction. If there’s one film from 2025 that can be described as an organic cultural phenomenon, it’s Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans’s action musical, which was produced at Sony Pictures Animation and released through Netflix. 

Twelve LAFCA winners went on to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar: Shrek, Spirited Away, The Incredibles, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Happy Feet, Ratatouille, Toy Story 3, Rango, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, The Boy and the Heron, and Flow. Eleven LAFCA recipients got nominated at the Oscars, although they didn’t win: The Triplets of Belleville, Persepolis, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Frankenweenie, Ernest & Celestine, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Animalisa, The Breadwinner, I Lost My Body, Wolfwalkers, and Flee. Only two LAFCA winners weren’t nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar: Waltz with Bashir, which did get nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, and Your Name. 

Five LAFCA runner-ups would go on to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar: Up, Inside Out, Coco, Toy Story 4, and Soul, all notably Pixar films. Eight LAFCA runner-ups got nominated at the Oscars without winning the big prize: Monsters, Inc., Cars, The Illusionist, The Wind Rises, The Red Turtle, The Incredibles 2, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, and Robot Dreams. Five LAFCA runner-ups missed out on Best Animated Feature nominations at the Oscars: The Adventures of Tintin, It’s Such a Beautiful Day (which didn’t meet Oscar eligibility requirements since it was comprised of preexisting material), The Lego Movie, Belle, and Chicken for Linda!. 

Little Amélie and KPop Demon Hunters seem destined for the Oscars, where the Best Animated Feature prize is still very much up for grabs. KPop Demon Hunters won Best Animated Film at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. Arco, meanwhile, won Best Animated Film at the National Board of Review. All three of these films have been nominated at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and Astra Film Awards. Arco, KPop Demon Hunters, and Little Amélie are also expected to be nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes tomorrow. As of now, these three seem to be vying for Oscar frontrunner status. Until we see what wins at the televised awards, it’s anyone’s game. 

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!