The 2019 Animation Oscar Nominations Are Here

After months of speculation, the wait is finally over, and the 2019 Academy Award Nominations are here. So who will be competing for this year's Oscars in the animation categories?

In the Best Animated Feature category this year's nominees are Pixar's Incredibles 2, Sony's Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Wes Anderson's Isle Of Dogs, Disney's Ralph Wrecks The Internet and Mamoru Hosoda's Mirai.

Up until a few weeks ago, this category was assumed to be (as in most years) Pixar's win sewn up. However, since Spider-Verse opened to rapturous reviews it has begun to pick up momentum, winning 33 awards to date, including the Golden Globe for Best Picture- Animated. The film probably faces a challenge to win over the notoriously fusty Academy voters, who have a record for disrespecting animation. So while Brad Bird's sequel probably still has to be considered the favourite, if any film could pull up an upset it's Spider-Verse. And in a year where Black Panther is nominated for Best Picture, who knows what could happen?

Outside of these two, it's exciting to see Hosoda pick up his first nomination, and rare for an anime film not from Studio Ghibli to be in the mix. Its another honour for this film to go on its impressive list alongside the historic Golden Globe nomination (the first anime to do so) and the selection at Cannes.

In the animated short category, Pixar picked up their anticipated nod for Demee Shi's Bao and Cartoon Saloon's Louise Bagnall was nominated for Late Afternoon. The other nominees are Animal Behaviour, One Small Step and Weekends.

That's not all either, as Isle Of Dogs picked up a second nomination for Best Original Score from  Alexandre Desplat.

This year's Oscars will be announced on Sunday, February 24.