^{Credit: Arco (Neon), Zootopia 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures), Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (GKIDS), KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix, Sony Pictures Animation).} 

KPop Demon Hunters might not be eligible at the BAFTAs, but it's officially qualified for consideration at the 98th Academy Awards. Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans' hit film was among thirty-five entries deemed eligible for Best Animated Feature. Other submissions include Arco, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, Elio, and Zootopia 2. From this list, five will be nominated for the Oscar. Check out the full list below: 

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Arco
The Bad Guys 2
Black Butterflies
Boys Go to Jupiter
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc
ChaO
Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing
David
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
Dog Man
Dog of God
Dragon Heart – Adventures Beyond This World
Elio
Endless Cookie
Fixed
Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie
In Your Dreams
KPop Demon Hunters
The Legend of Hei 2
Light of the World
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Lost in Starlight
A Magnificent Life
Mahavatar Narsimha
Night of the Zoopocalypse
Olivia & las Nubes
100 Meters
Out of the Nest
Scarlet
Slide
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
Stitch Head
The Twits
Zootopia 2

This is four more than last year, when thirty-one animated features were entered. Yet, a few films are notably missing from the lineup. For a while, it was unclear if Predator: Killer of Killers, released through Hulu, would compete at the Oscars or Emmys. Hulu's FYC page suggested the latter. Now we have official confirmation. It was also debated whether Cinema Fantasma's I Am Frankelda would have an Oscar-eligible run. Although it played at the Animation Is Film Festival earlier this year, I Am Frankelda has yet to qualify for Oscar consideration. Maybe the stop-motion film will have a proper run next year. 

In addition to KPop Demon Hunters, Netflix has several other contenders, including In Your Dreams, Fixed, Lost in Starlight, and The Twits. Yet, Netflix didn't submit The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep or Plankton: The Movie, both of which came out this year. Arco, Little Amélie, and Dog of God were all recently nominated at the 38th European Film Awards. Yet, two European Film Awards nominees, Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake and Tales from the Magic Garden, weren't submitted at the Oscars. Neither were Balentes, Checkered Ninja 3, or Dandelion’s Odyssey, which were shortlisted at the European Film Awards. 

Fans of Eastern animation will be happy to know that Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, ChaO, Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle, Dragon Heart – Adventures Beyond This World, The Legend of Hei 2, 100 Meters, and Scarlet were all submitted. In what might be the most shocking omission, though, China's Ne Zha 2 - the highest-grossing animated feature of all time - isn't listed here. With A24 handling an English dub for the Chinese blockbuster, it seemed inevitable that it would at least be submitted. Of course, Ne Zha 2 underperformed in North America, which might explain this decision. 

Of the major U.S. studios, Smurfs from Paramount Animation is a surprising no-show. While it's not like anyone was expecting the little blue people to get nominated, that didn't stop the Sony Smurf movies from submitting in the past. Paramount did submit The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. Several independent films have been entered, including Boys Go to Jupiter and Bill Plympton's Slide. The Australian indie animated feature, Lesbian Space Princess, is absent, however. So is Hola Frida, although its eligibility might've been called into question due to its TV roots. 2025 gave us several faith-based animated films like David and Light of the World, although Angel Studios didn't submit The King of Kings. Animal Farm, Sneaks, and The Square are just a few other animated films that weren't submitted. 

On the heels of The Wild Robot, DreamWorks has three films in contention this year: The Bad Guys 2, Dog Man, and Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie, although the latter is part live-action. Beyond Best Animated Feature, Endless Cookie was submitted for Best Documentary Feature, while Dog of God is Latvia's submission for Best International Feature Film. Stay tuned to see which of these thirty-five films advance to the next round when the 98th Academy Awards nominees are announced on January 22, 2026. 

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