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

For the past two years, Best Animated Feature has been one of the most exciting races to follow. In 2024, The Boy and the Heron managed to defeat presumed frontrunner Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. In 2025, Flow emerged victorious over The Wild Robot. The Best Animated Feature race has been more straightforward this past season, however. Since taking the world by storm last summer, KPop Demon Hunters winning Best Animated Feature has seemed like an inevitability. Some awards experts were skeptical, believing something else could surprise down the line. As the Oscars approach, though, the general consensus is that it was probably KPop Demon Hunters all along.

Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans’ film has won almost forty Best Animated Feature prizes, most notably at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and New York Film Critics Circle. It’s currently up for awards at the Annies, Producers Guild, American Cinema Editors, Art Directors Guild Awards, and Visual Effects Society, among others. If it wins the Annie and PGA, in particular, there’s no reason to believe that KPop Demon Hunters won’t take home the Oscar. There’s just one major award that Demon Hunters can’t win: the British Academy Film Award.

KPop Demon Hunters was deemed ineligible for BAFTA consideration due to its streaming release. Netflix tried to give it a qualifying theatrical run, but this didn’t satisfy BAFTA’s requirements. As such, one might assume that the BAFTAs are inconsequential this year for animation. Since the British Academy introduced a category for feature animation in 2006, though, no film has won the Best Animated Feature Oscar without being nominated for the BAFTA. KPop Demon Hunters could be an exception to this stat. However, if KPop Demon Hunters ultimately loses the Oscar, it’ll be a testament to just how important the BAFTA nomination is.

BAFTA could give not one, but two animated films a boost heading into the Oscars. In Best Animated Feature, the BAFTA nominees are Elio, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, and Zootopia 2. In Best Children's & Family Film, Arco and Zootopia 2 are nominated against the live-action Boong and Lilo & Stitch remake. Arco was eligible in the animation category, but it wasn’t nominated. Likewise, Elio and Little Amélie could’ve broken into the children’s and family race, but they got left out. Zootopia 2 is the only film that managed to get nominated in both categories.

Last year, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl won the BAFTA for Best Animated Feature and Best Children's & Family Film. You could chalk that up to British bias, but Zootopia 2 could potentially nab two wins this year as well. Ironically, the BAFTA was one of the few awards that the original Zootopia didn’t win, losing to Kubo and the Two Strings. It’d be somewhat karmic if Zootopia won two BAFTAs, making up for the previous film’s loss. Even if Zootopia 2 won both BAFTAs, it hasn’t won much else this season aside from several regional critics' awards. Unless the blockbuster sequel were to surprise at the Annies or PGA, the BAFTA likely wouldn’t be enough to push it over the Oscar finish line.

BAFTA could also favor European animation, with Little Amélie winning in animation and Arco winning in the other category. Since Arco and Little Amélie premiered at Cannes last year, many speculated whether one of them could follow the same path as Flow. Where Flow dominated the conversation, though, Little Amélie and Arco feel equally matched. Arco won the National Board of Review while Little Amélie prevailed at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. Arco won the European Film Award, but Little Amélie has a slightly better Rotten Tomatoes score. Neither is necessarily stronger than the other. The BAFTA could give one or even both a boost, but they’re inclined to split the indie vote at the Oscars.

Elio seems the least likely to walk away with a BAFTA. The Pixar film has won literally nothing this season thus far. That could change in the coming weeks, especially since Elio tied KPop Demon Hunters for the most Annie nominations this year. Yet, even Pixar seems to know that the nomination was the win for Elio. There’s also a scenario where Boong or Lilo & Stitch wins Best Children's & Family Film, which would suggest that BAFTA voters weren’t that impressed with this year’s animation output. Had KPop Demon Hunters been eligible, maybe it’d be another story.

In a way, it still feels like KPop Demon Hunters has won at the BAFTAs. Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Am will be performing “Golden” at the BAFTA ceremony. This is irregular for BAFTA, as they don’t even have a Best Original Song category. This could be seen as a consolation prize for KPop Demon Hunters. It’s BAFTA’s way of saying, “You’re not eligible, but you’d probably be winning if you were.” In that sense, this consolation prize is another win for KPop Demon Hunters. It also strengthens “Golden’s” chances at the Oscars. In fact, “Golden” and “I Lied to You” from Sinners will be the only nominated songs performed on the Oscar telecast.

While KPop Demon Hunters can’t compete at BAFTA, it did recently win Animated Film of the Year at the London Film Critics Circle Awards. If it could win over that group, one can imagine KPop Demon Hunters winning the BAFTA had it qualified. If anything, this year’s BAFTA outcome will give us an idea of what’s in second place for the Oscars. My money is on Zootopia 2 to win at least one BAFTA, although it would notably be the only sequel other than Toy Story 3 to win in the animation category. Herein lies another issue with predicting Zootopia 2 come Oscar time. Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 are the only sequels to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar.

A Best Animated Feature category didn’t exist when the first two Toy Story movies came out. So awarding the third film, which got nominated for Best Picture as well, was a no-brainer. The race was closer when Toy Story 4 came out. While Toy Story 4 won at Critics’ Choice and PGA, Klaus swept the Annies and won the BAFTA. Missing Link, meanwhile, won the Golden Globe. With no clear frontrunner, the Oscars defaulted to the most widely seen nominee. With KPop Demon Hunters, there is a clear frontrunner, which will make it much harder for Zootopia 2 to pull a Toy Story.

Just as the original Zootopia won pretty much everything except the BAFTA, KPop Demon Hunters may repeat the same trajectory. That said, if KPop Demon Hunters fails to win the Annie or PGA, then the Oscar is suddenly up for grabs. As long as KPop Demon Hunters can enter the Oscars with those awards locked up, then its absence at BAFTA will be but a slight setback on its way to the gold.

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Available Now!