A Too Early Look at the 2027 Best Animated Feature Oscars Race

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Catch your breath, because Oscars season is officially a wrap. And with it, we had two pretty delightful animated films taking home the ultimate prize. The Animated Short category went to my favorite of the nominees, “The Girl Who Cried Pearls.” And, as has been predicted, “KPOP Demon Hunters” managed to nab Best Animated Feature — a victory that is all too fitting for what was, undoubtedly, one of the films of 2025 in terms of cultural impact and influence.

Sadly, what should have been a joyous night for “KPop Demon Hunters,” where the film picked up two Oscars for Animated Feature and the original song “Golden” was tarnished by a messy, poorly produced show in which both speeches from the teams behind the film got played off before they were ready to leave the stage. Directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans both made short statements during their win, only for the music to begin playing as producer Michelle Wong took the mic. The trio remained on stage, however, and Wong was able to complete her speech.

The more widely publicized snafu came when the “Golden” songwriting team accepted the Best Original Song trophies. After Ejae, songwriter and singing voice of Rumi, finished her thoughts, fellow winner Yu Han Lee took the microphone, only for the music to begin playing. Despite audible boos in the theater and the third winner Mark Sonnenblick visibly protesting the play off, the broadcast moved forward to a commercial break, and the lights on stage were cut, forcing the three off stage. Lee and Sonnenblick finished the speech in the press room backstage.

Winners from “smaller” categories getting cut off prematurely is nothing new, and has been a widely criticized part of award ceremonies for some time now; unfortunately, many times these cuts also happen to winners who speak English as a second language (see director Kleber Mendonça Filho getting cut off during his Golden Globe win earlier this season).

What’s particularly baffling about the treatment of “KPop Demon Hunters” at the Oscars is that the film was in no way, shape, or form a “small” or unknown winner: it’s the biggest Netflix film ever, and one of the biggest films of the last year. “Golden” isn’t an obscure Original Song winner, but a genuine hit that’s topped the Billboard Hot 100 and is still in the top 10. There’s hand-wringing every year about the Oscars failing to attract younger viewers, but when a category that actually holds some interest to broader Gen Z viewers gets called, it’s treated as an afterthought? That’s the kind of behavior that only makes the Academy seem out of touch.

‘KPop Demon Hunters’

Aside from the Oscars’ snafu, the “KPop Demon Hunters” win is interesting because it represents something of a midpoint between the two types of winners that take the Animated Feature category. One type is simply the biggest animated film of the year, generally the Disney or Pixar project that was most well-received: think “Encanto” winning over “Flee,” or “Soul” winning over “Wolfwalkers.”

The other is the Passion Pick, the film that doesn’t have the biggest box office numbers but has the loudest fans. As the Academy has expanded and gotten both younger and more international, these types of winners have become much more common: you could argue the last three winners, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “The Boy and the Heron,” and “Flow,” were passion picks. What “KPop Demon Hunters” threaded well in its campaign was it was both a massive success and, in its celebration of South Korean culture and the creativity on display in its music and action sequences, a film people were genuinely excited to root for. In that context, even “Zootopia 2” didn’t really stand much of a chance at competing against it.

With the film’s win, Sony Pictures Animation now has two Animated Feature Oscars, after winning in 2019 for “Into the Spider-Verse.” That’s great for the studio, and hopefully will allow it more resources to produce more interesting work. Also of note is that this is the second Netflix film to win the Oscar, after “Pinocchio,” and that Disney and Pixar haven’t managed to notch a win here since 2022, when “Encanto” won. A four-year stretch between wins for either company is easily the longest in the category’s history, especially considering they’ve collectively won 15 of the 25 years it’s been established, and shows both how much the Oscars’ changing voting body had affected the race and also how both Disney and Pixar aren’t quite as central to animation as they used to be even a few years ago.

‘Hoppers’

What’s Winning in 2027?

Now that the Oscars are over, let’s move on to talk about…the Oscars. As we look ahead to a new year of animation, I’m going to take a stab at predicting what the 2027 race for Best Animated Feature will look like, and what film will ultimately take home the award.

Overall, I’m confident already in at least one movie locked for a nomination, and that’s “Hoppers,” Pixar’s latest and its best original animated feature in quite some time. Bet against an original Pixar film making the lineup at your peril: I flirted with the idea of “Elio” missing the cut last year, but it still cracked the final five nominees. “Hoppers” is both a much better film and is already doing significantly better at the box office, so barring a crazy year where we get four different “KPop Demon Hunters” level success stories, I think it’s safe to say that “Hoppers” is probably getting a nomination.

Will it win? Well, that’s a trickier question. Again, Pixar used to dominate this category, but hasn’t won since 2020. “Hoppers” is a great film, but part of what makes it great is how it depart from Pixar formula to go in a lighter, more cheerfully inane direction. It doesn’t quite have the prestige a “Soul” or “Coco” has, so it feels difficult to imagine it translating a nomination into a win.

The Pixar film that I easily can see winning, though, is “Toy Story 5,” the latest installment in the studio’s flagship franchise. The series has a 100 percent success rate at winning this category, with the third and fourth film taking the Oscar (the first two came out before the award was established). The fourth winning, despite the somewhat muted praise for it, feels like a sign that the fifth will, barring the unlikely event that it’s an unmitigated disaster, get at least a nomination. But again, voting habits in this category have changed notably since “Toy Story 4” won in 2020, so even if the fifth film wins, it will likely face stiffer competition.

Moving over to Disney, whose animated offering this year is “Hexed,” directed by Josie Trinidad and Jason Hand. Relatively little is known about the film, but it’s important to note that unlike Pixar, Disney is a bit more susceptible to missing a nomination in this category from time to time: “Zootopia 2” was actually its first nomination since “Encanto” won, with “Strange World,” “Wish,” and “Moana 2” all blanking. File this one as a contender, but one that’s a question mark until it actually releases.

Reigning champs Sony released “Goat,” a sports comedy, this February to decent box office and generally positive reviews. Should the year prove a weak one for animation, I can imagine it scraping in, although most likely, it’ll struggle to maintain momentum after coming out so early in the year.

‘Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom’

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” will no doubt make a lot of money in April, but considering how the first one didn’t crack a nomination, I can imagine this will probably miss as well. Other franchise fare that I safely expect to be non-factors include “Minions & Monsters,” “The Angry Birds Movie 3,” and “The Cat in the Hat.” A real contender, though, is “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom,” Aardman Animation’s latest film and the third entry in the “Shaun the Sheep” entry, after both prior films got nominations. People love Aardman! People love “Shaun the Sheep!” I see very little reason for this to change.

Skydance Animation, which has never notched an Oscar nomination, has two films out this year courtesy of Netflix. The first, “Swapped,” comes out in April. The more promising awards contender is interesting is “Ray Gunn,” an original animated feature from “Incredibles” and “Iron Giant” director Brad Bird about a human private detective in a sci-fi world. Recall that Bird’s last original film was “Tomorrowland,” and “Ray Gunn” doesn’t feel like a sure thing, but it’ll certainly be one of the more interesting releases from this year if nothing else. Also of interest from Netflix is “I am Frankelda,” a Mexican stop-motion film it acquired last year and could prove to be a passion pick should reviews be strong.

DreamWorks Animation has won Animated Feature twice, but very early on in the company’s lifespan for “Shrek” and “Wallace and Gromit.” Its lone release this year is “Forgotten Island,” from Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, who made the studio’s acclaimed “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” Not much is known about the film, but the studio seems to have some confidence in it, so I’m hesitantly optimistic about its chances.

Especially in recent years, indie and foreign animated films tend to comprise at least a few nominees within the category. What films will make up that crop will become much clearer during festival season (recall that “Flow” premiered at Cannes). GKIDS is releasing the anime film “ChaO,” which won a Jury Award at Annecy, in April, but that film was eligible for last year’s Oscars. The same goes for “A Magnificent Life,” from “The Triplets of Belleville” director Sylvain Chomet. At this stage at least, the international effort I’m keeping an eye out for is “Julián,” from the acclaimed Cartoon Saloon, which released “The Secret of Kells” and “Wolfwalkers.”

Another smaller studio that I fully expect to be in the race is stop-motion studio Laika, which has been a perennial nominee for every single film it’s ever released, but has always come up short. After seven years since the studio’s last feature effort, it’s returning with “Wildwood.” The film has been in development for close to five years, and the studio has hyped it up as its most ambitious feature effort yet. I’m almost confident that “Wildwood” will be a nominee: consider it one of the biggest contenders.

So, what’s getting into the race? With only some of the puzzle finished in front of me, I’ll say that the nominees will be: “Hoppers,” “Toy Story 5,” “Ray Gunn,” “Julián,” and “Wildwood.” As for what will win: “Toy Story 5” might seem the safe bet with history on its side, but “Wildwood” will ultimately triumph, thanks to a voting body that really feels Laika ought to have an Oscar by now.

Am I wrong about any of this? Probably! But that’s the fun that comes from taking a shot in the dark.