Top Story: ‘The Wild Robot’ And ‘Arcane’ Lead 52nd Annie Award Nominations

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday the 20 films that have been shortlisted for the 2018 visual effects Academy Award.

Notably, fully-animated features are starting to make more frequent appearances among the typically live-action group of films. This year, both Incredibles 2 and Isle of Dogs are being considered in the category. Two animated features have previously been nominated in the category: Kubo and the Two Strings in 2017 and The Nightmare Before Christmas in 1994.

This preliminary shortlist was determined by the executive committee of the Academy’s visual effects branch. Later this month, the committee will gather again to create a shortlist of the 10 films that will advance to nominations voting.

Cartoon Brew previewed the vfx Oscar contenders in October. All 12 films we highlighted are included in the Academy’s 20-film shortlist.

Here are the films listed in alphabetical order:

  • Ant-Man and the Wasp
  • Aquaman
  • Avengers: Infinity War
  • Black Panther
  • Bumblebee
  • Christopher Robin
  • Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
  • First Man
  • Incredibles 2
  • Isle of Dogs
  • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
  • Mary Poppins Returns
  • Mission: Impossible – Fallout
  • Mortal Engines
  • The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
  • Paddington 2
  • A Quiet Place
  • Ready Player One
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story
  • Welcome to Marwen

The Academy Award nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 22, 2019.