Best Animated Feature Predictions

Nominations voting is from January 11–16, 2024, with official Oscar nominations announced on January 23, 2024. Final voting is February 22–27, 2024. And finally, the 96th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 10, and air live on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT. We update predictions throughout awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2024 Oscar picks.

The State of the Race

“Nimona,” the underdog Oscar contender from Annapurna Animation/Netflix, was the surprise leader for ASIFA-Hollywood’s 51st Annie Awards (to be held February 17 at UCLA’s Royce Hall) with nine nominations (including best feature). This should help boost its chances for an Oscar nomination.

“Nimona,” which was rescued by Annapurna and Netflix after Disney shuttered Blue Sky, following the Fox acquisition, is a queer breakthrough about conquering xenophobia in a futuristic medieval world. Directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane (“Spies in Disguise”) and adapted from ND Stevenson’s best-selling LGBTQ graphic novel, it features a knight (Riz Ahmed) framed for murder, who teams up with the eponymous shape-shifter and also contains a same-sex love story involving the knight and his bestie-turned rival (Eugene Lee Yang). The animation from DNEG (capturing the spirit of the Blue Sky design) has a quirky 2D aesthetic that’s perfect for the tone and setting.