The 2024 animated feature Oscar race looks to be wide open, so we decided to take an early look at which films will be qualifying for next year’s ceremony.

Last year at this time, the race felt top-heavy and for much of the year Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio seemed like the bettor’s favorite, despite being one of the last qualifying films to reach audiences. This time around, things are murkier with a number of titles all demonstrating qualities that Oscars voters frequently appreciate. There are also rumors about studios who are feeling the pressure of the dual writers and actors’ strikes holding back future releases until 2024.

As we did last year, we’ve split up our list of likely qualifiers by distributor. Many of the companies have not yet nailed down their complete lists of films they will submit, so we’ve included anything that could make the cut. The eventual list of qualifying films is likely to look a bit different than what we’ve put together here, although we’re confident that most of the films below will be submitted....

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Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams, which impressed at Cannes and Annecy, will get a U.S. theatrical run from indie powerhouse Neon, a company that knows how to run an awards campaign. Neon was the U.S. distributor for Flee in 2021, which made Oscar history by receiving nominations for animated feature, documentary, and international feature. Dekanalog is distributing Liu Jian’s Art College 1994, which played in competition at the Berlinale earlier this year. Little Nicholas: Happy as Can Be won a ton of awards in 2022 and got its Oscar-qualifying run this year from distributor Buffalo 8. And Blue Fox Entertainment will put Ratatouille scribe Jim Capobianco’s directorial debut The Inventor in U.S. theaters next month. And it was recently announced that Signe Baumane’s My Love Affair with Marriage is getting a limited theatrical run from 8 Above which should qualify it for this year’s race.

Full list of titles here

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