^{Credit: Arco, Elio, Forevergreen, The Girl Who Cried Pearls, KPop Demon Hunters, Butterfly, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, Retirement Plan, The Three Sisters, Zootopia 2.}

The 98th Academy Awards nominations have been announced. In the categories for Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short, the nominees are...

Best Animated Feature

Arco (Ugo Bienvenu, Félix de Givry, Sophie Mas, and Natalie Portman)

Elio (Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina, and Mary Alice Drumm)

KPop Demon Hunters (Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, and Michelle L.M. Wong)

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han, Nidia Santiago, and Henri Magalon)

Zootopia 2 (Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Yvett Merino)

 

Best Animated Short

Butterfly (Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens)

Forevergreen (Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears)

The Girl Who Cried Pearls (Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski)

Retirement Plan (John Kelly and Andrew Freedman)

The Three Sisters (Konstantin Bronzit)
 

And in Best Visual Effects, the nominees are...

Best Visual Effects

Avatar: Fire and Ash (Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett)

F1 (Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington, and Keith Dawson)

Jurassic World Rebirth (David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan, and Neil Corbould)

The Lost Bus (Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen, and Brandon K. McLaughlin)

Sinners (Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter, and Donnie Dean)

 

Best Animated Feature lined up with the consensus five. Arco, Elio, KPop Demon Hunters, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, and Zootopia 2 all made the cut. Some speculated that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle might sneak in here following its nominations at the Golden Globes and PGA, in addition to making the BAFTA longlist. The film always had a major hurdle to overcome at the Oscars, as it requires viewers to be caught up on the anime TV series. Plus, unless your film is from Studio Ghibli, it's hard for Japanese animation to break through in this category. Mamoru Hosoda did manage to get nominated a few years ago for Mirai, but voters overlooked Scarlet this year. 

The fact that Crunchyroll got as far as they did with Demon Slayer could still mean that they're on the verge of a major awards breakthrough, bet it at the Oscars or Emmys. This year's Best Animated Feature lineup still recognized multiple Asian artists. Domee Shi was the co-director of Elio, while Maggie Kang co-directed KPop Demon Hunters. Speaking of KPop Demon Hunters, EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon, and Teddy Park got into Best Original Song for "Golden," which has already won at the Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards.

Elio and KPop Demon Hunters are both currently tied for the most Annie Award nominations this year. If either wins the Oscar, it would be the first time a film from a female director of Asian descent took home Best Animated Feature. Hayao Miyazaki has won twice for Spirited Away and The Boy and the Heron. It's also worth noting that for the first time since 2017, all five Best Animated Feature nominees have at least one female representative. Between Elio, KPop Demon Hunters, and Little Amélie, which Maïlys Vallade co-directed, one could become the first female-helmed film since Frozen to win Best Animated Feature. Domee Shi previously won Best Animated Short for 2018's Boa.

Where Best Animated Feature went accordingly, Best Animated Short had its fair share of surprises. This isn't because of what got nominated, as Butterfly, Forevergreen, The Girl Who Cried Pearls, Retirement Plan, and The Three Sisters are all worthy. It's because of what didn't get nominated. Many assumed the frontrunners would be Aaron Blaise's Snow Bear and Giovanna Ferrari's Éiru, the latter of which was produced through Cartoon Saloon. Between Cartoon Saloon's overdue narrative and the fact that it played with Little Amélie, Éiru seemed like a shoo-in. Éiru showed its first sign of vulnerability at the Annie Awards, where Leo Pearson and Ceara Conway got nominated for their music, but the short otherwise went overlooked.

That said, Snow Bear did get two Annie nominations, including one for Best Short Subject. Perhaps Blaise's short would've gone on to the Oscars if this year didn't have multiple bear films in contention. Forevergreen centers on a grizzly bear torn between the tree that's nurtured him and the forbidden fruit of trash. Forevergreen is also up for two Annies: Character Animation (Brendan Gottlieb) and Production Design (Jeremy Spears and Gregory Culp). Like Blaise, Forevergreen directors Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears come from Disney backgrounds. Where Snow Bear harkened back to the Disney Renaissance with hand-drawn animation, Forevergreen took a more modern approach, utilizing CG animation that replicated the look of wood-carvings. Both shorts are delightful, but the Academy ultimately favored Forevergreen. 

The stop-motion short The Girl Who Cried Pearls is also currently up for an Annie Award. At the Oscars, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski scored their first Best Animated Short nominations since 2007's Madame Tutli-Putli. They aren't the only returning nominees. The Three Sisters director Konstantin Bronzit was previously nominated for 2007’s Lavatory – Lovestory and 2014’s We Can't Live Without Cosmos. Bronzit submitted The Three Sisters to festivals and the Oscars under a pseudonym: Timur Kognov. It wasn't until after The Three Sisters made the Oscar shortlist that Bronzit revealed his true identity. 

The Best Animated Short lineup also includes a past Oscar winner. Butterfly (Papillon) producer Ron Dyens shared in last year's Best Animated Feature win for Flow. He shares the Butterfly nomination with director Florence Miailhe, who got her first nomination. Other first-time nominees include Retirement Plan director John Kelly and producer Andrew Freedman. This year's Best Animated Short nominees offer a wide range of animation techniques, from CG, to stop-motion, to hand-drawn, to hand-painted. Stay tuned at Cartoon Contender over the following months as we cover the Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short Oscar races!

Other Observations About This Year's Oscar Nominees:

Sinners broke the all-time record for the most Oscar nominations ever (16). I predicted Sinnes would achieve this milestone, although I had it capped at 15 nominations. Delroy Lindo making Best Supporting Actor was a pleasant surprise, especially since he should already have a nomination for Da 5 Bloods. 

One Battle After Another got this year's second-most nominations (13). Whether or not Sinners can challenge One Battle for Best Picture, Paul Thomas Anderson remains a lock for Best Director, while Ryan Coogler is in a strong position to win Best Original Screenplay.

It Was Just an Accident got into Best International Feature and Best Original Screenplay, but it also should've been nominated for Best Picture and Director, especially given everything Jafar Panahi put on the line to get that film made. 

I predicted Ariana Grande would get omitted from Best Supporting Actress, but even on its worst day, I thought Wicked: For Good would get nominations for its production design and costumes after winning last year. The film laid a goose egg, however. Voters apparently figured, you got ten nominations last time. You're good. 

The Perfect Neighbor overcame the biggest hurdle of getting nominated for Best Documentary Feature, which should make that race easier to predict. 

Neon just missed getting five nominees in Best International Feature, and I'm glad the outlier is The Voice of Hind Rajab. 

GKIDS got their first nomination for a live-action film, with Kokuho making it into Best Makeup and Hairstyling. 

Nominations I'm happiest about: Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value) for Best Supporting Actress, Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You) for Best Actress, Jane Austen's Period Drama for Best Live-Action Short. 

Nominations That Confused Me the Most: Avatar: Fire and Ash for Best Costumes, when most of the characters were digitally created. Jurassic World Rebirth for Best Visual Effects over Superman, although at least they didn't nominate The Electric State. F1 is a Best Picture nominee... okay.

Pouring one out for Adam Sandler, Ariana Grande, Paul Mescal, Chase Infinity, Joel Edgerton, and Eva Victor.

I got 95 out of 125 in my Oscar predictions. How'd you do? 

The 98th Academy Awards will be held on March 15, 2026. 

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