Nominations voting is from January 8-12, 2025, with official Oscar nominations introduced January 17, 2025. Closing voting is February 11-18, 2025. And eventually, the 97th Oscars telecast will likely be broadcast on Sunday, March 2, and air reside on ABC at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT. We replace our picks all through awards season, so hold checking IndieWire for all our 2025 Oscar predictions.
The State of the Race
The Oscar shortlist for Greatest Animated Brief consists of “Au Revoir Mon Monde,” “A Bear Named Wojtek,” “Lovely Males,” “Bottle George,” “A Crab within the Pool,” “Within the Shadow of the Cypress,” “Magic Candies,” “Possibly Elephants,” “Me,” “Origami,” “Percebes,” “The 21,” “Wander to Marvel,” “The Wild-Tempered Clavier,” and “Yuck!”
The record represents 13 nations (with two from the U.S.), with a preponderance of 2D and stop-motion over CG and a few distinctive experimentation (akin to portray on rolls of bathroom paper). There’s one Oscar-winning director and two nominees, and two Scholar Academy Award winners from 2024. Surprisingly, no American studio works made the minimize (akin to Disney’s “An Virtually Christmas Story,” directed by David Lowery and produced by Alfonso Cuarón).
Among the many buzziest contenders are “Wander to Marvel,” “Yuck!,” “Possibly Elephants,” “Lovely Males,” “Within the Shadow of the Cypress,” and “A Bear Named Wojtek.” In actual fact, all however “Possibly Elephants” obtained Annie Award nominations for brief or particular manufacturing.
“Au Revoir Mon Monde” (France, CG, directed by Estelle Bonnardel, Quentin Devred, Baptiste Duchamps, Maxime Foltzer, Florian Maurice, and Astrid Novais): The Scholar Academy Awards gold medal winner is a couple of meteor crash and a sushi restaurant mascot dressed as a fish who frantically rushes to a clock tower earlier than the tip of the world.
“A Bear Named Wojtek” (U.Okay., Poland, 2D, directed by Iain Gardner): An orphaned brown bear, beforehand adopted by Polish troopers throughout World Battle II, is dropped at Scotland, the place he turns into Edinburgh Zoo’s well-known bear, Wojtek.
“Lovely Males” (Belgium, France, Netherlands, stop-motion, directed by Nicolas Keppens): Melding Fellini-esque actuality and fantasy, it tells the story of three bald brothers on a visit to Istanbul for hair transplant surgical procedure and their fears about getting older.
“Bottle George” (Japan, stop-motion, directed by Cube Tsutsumi): Tonko Home co-founder Tsutsumi (greatest recognized for “The Dam Keeper” nominated quick) explores the connection between a younger woman struggling together with her worry of her alcoholic father and a small creature trapped inside a bottle (voiced by Japanese comic Akihiro Nishino).
“A Crab within the Pool” (Canada, 2D, directed by Alexandra Myotte and Jean-Sébastien Hamel): A coming-of-age story a couple of teenage woman who’s irritated by having to take care of her youthful brother however should discover a method to heal their relationship.
“Within the Shadow of the Cypress” (Iran, 2D, directed by Hossein Molayemi & Shirin Sohani): A former captain with PTSD, who lives together with his daughter, is pulled out of his isolation by the sudden arrival of a stranded whale.
“Magic Candies” (Japan, CG, directed by Daisuke Nishio): When a boy buys a bag of colourful, marble-shaped candies, he features the flexibility to listen to voices.
“Possibly Elephants” (Canada, Norway, 2D, directed by Torill Kove): Oscar winner Kove (“The Danish Poet”) affords an autobiographical ode to household from the Nationwide Movie Board of Canada. It’s a couple of household journey to Nairobi within the ’70s with three rebellious teenage daughters, a stressed mom, a father scuffling with potatoes, and a complicated reminiscence a couple of herd of elephants.
“Me” (U.S., 2D, directed by Don Hertzfeldt): Indie Oscar-nominated legend Hertzfeldt salvaged an unrealized musical mission (rumored to be with Arcade Fireplace) and turned it right into a musical odyssey about humanity’s retreat inward as a method of coping with trauma.
“Origami” (Japan, CG, directed by Kei Kanamori): The Scholar Academy Awards silver medal winner is a couple of magical character that transforms folded sheets of CG-animated paper into dwelling crops and creatures.
“Percebes” (Portugal, France, 2D, directed by Alexandra Ramires & Laura Gonçalves): Winner of the Annecy Cristal for Greatest Brief, this animated documentary explores the weird-looking barnacle generally known as percebes in Portugal.
“The 21″ (Egypt, U.S., U.Okay., 2D, directed by Tod Polson): Mixing live-action footage with animation within the model of Coptic iconography, the movie pays tribute to the 21 Coptic males murdered by ISIS in Libya in 2015.
“Wander to Marvel” (Netherlands, stop-motion, directed by Nina Gantz): When the creator of an ’80s youngsters’s TV sequence dies, the three tiny stars are on their lonesome within the studio. They wrestle to seek out sufficient to eat whereas persevering with to make unusual episodes for the followers.
“The Wild-Tempered Clavier” (Germany, stop-motion, pixilation, 2D, directed by Anna Samo): That is an experimental quick impressed by the prelude to J.S. Bach’s “The Nicely-Tempered Clavier” and a tribute to the strategy of portray straight on 35mm by portray on rolls of bathroom paper.
“Yuck!” (France, 2D, directed by Loïc Espuche): A gaggle of children at their vacation camp freak out after they witness adults of all ages kissing in public.
Potential nominees are listed in alphabetical order; no movie will likely be deemed a frontrunner till we’ve got seen it.
Frontrunners
“Lovely Males”
“Within the Shadow of the Cypress”
“Possibly Elephants”
“Wander to Marvel”
“Yuck!”
Contenders
“Au Revoir Mon Monde”
“A Bear Named Wojtek”
“Bottle George”
“A Crab within the Pool”
“Magic Candies”
“Me”
“Origami”
“Percebes”
“The 21”
“The Wild-Tempered Clavier”