As Critics Choice Awards Announce Nominees, Consensus Forms In Feature Animation Awards Race

The Critics Choice Awards (CCA) has announced its nominations for the association’s 30th annual presentation. More than 600 critics and entertainment reporters made their choices from a diverse field of film and television titles.

The nominees give a clear consensus of front-runners in the Oscar race for best animated feature from the 31 animated features that qualified for the 2025 Oscar race. In the last ten years, CCA’s best animated feature winners have coincided with Oscar seven times.

Adding to their pull, the CAA’s five nominated animated features all appeared among the six titles that received 2025 Golden Globes nominations (which also included the addition of Disney’s Moana 2). This leaves an uphill battle for the 26 other animated features currently seeking Oscar recognition.

The Wild Robot was the CAA’s most nominated animated feature. The Universal Pictures science fiction fable picked up a total of three nominations, including best original score (by Kris Bowers) and best original song (“Kiss the Sky”).

Sideshow/Janus Films’ post-apocalyptic drama Flow received two nominations. This includes the film’s placement as the sole animated feature among the CAA’s six nominees for best foreign language film – perhaps ironic, as the film is entirely dialogueless.

Animation also played a significant role in the visual effects of CCA’s most nominated films. Universal’s Broadway musical adaptation Wicked, leads the field with 11 nominations, tied with Focus Features’ Vatican thriller Conclave. The Warner Bros. science fiction epic Dune: Part Two received 10 nominations, tied with Netflix’s psychedelic musical drama Emilia Perez.

Here are the nominations for all the categories in which animation factors into the picture:

Best Animated Feature

• Flow (Sideshow/Janus Films)
• Inside Out 2 (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
• Memoir of a Snail (IFC Films)
• Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix)
• The Wild Robot (Universal Pictures)

Best Animated Series

• Batman: Caped Crusader (Prime Video)
• Bluey (Disney+)
• Bob’s Burgers (Fox)
• Invincible (Prime Video)
• The Simpsons (Fox)
• X-Men ’97 (Disney+)

Best Visual Effects

• Better Man (Paramount Pictures)
• Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.)
• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (20th Century Studios)
• Gladiator II (Universal Pictures)
• The Substance (Mubi)
• Wicked (Universal Pictures)

Best Song

• “Beautiful That Way” – The Last Showgirl
• “Compress / Repress” – Challengers
• “El Mal” – Emilia Pérez
• “Harper and Will Go West” – Will & Harper
• “Kiss the Sky” – The Wild Robot
• “Mi Camino” – Emilia Pérez

Best Score

• Volker Bertelmann – Conclave
• Daniel Blumberg – The Brutalist
• Kris Bowers – The Wild Robot
• Clément Ducol & Camille – Emilia Pérez
• Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Challengers
• Hans Zimmer – Dune: Part Two

Best Foreign Language Film

• All We Imagine as Light
• Emilia Pérez
• Flow
• I’m Still Here
• Kneecap
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig

The 30th annual Critics Choice Awards will be presented on Sunday, January 12, 2025 from the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. The ceremony will air live on E! and will stream on Peacock on January 13.