The Academy changes its tune about animated movies with Oscar shortlist

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Who could forget the pain and anguish movie audiences around the world felt after The LEGO Movie - possibly one of the best animated films of all time - didn't even get a nomination for Best Animated Feature at this year's Oscars? Not us, that's for sure. As we zero in on the next year's Oscars, it's becoming clearer and clearer which actors, writers, directors and films will be in the race, and it looks like the Academy is keen to avoid the mistakes of the past.

When it comes to the Best Animated Feature award, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has made sure the shortlist is jam-packed with everyone's favourite animated movies (16 in total), including Inside Out and Minions. Phew, so we can put the pitchforks down, right?

The 16 animated movies which made it onto the Oscar shortlist are: Anomalisa, The Boy and the Beast, Boy and the World, The Good Dinosaur, Home, Hotel Transylvania 2, Inside Out, Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, The Laws of the Universe – Part 0, Minions, Moomins on the Riviera, The Peanuts Movie, Regular Show: The Movie, Shaun the Sheep Movie, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water and When Marnie Was There.

Which do you think should win? Vote in our poll of the main contenders below...

Some of the films (like Pixar's The Good Dinosaur) haven't even been released yet, but they'll be eligible before the awards ceremony. From the shortlist, five nominees will be announced (along with nominations for all the other categories) on January 14 2016, with the Oscars kicking off on February 28 2016.

Amon Warmann
Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.