The two strongest contenders to win this year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Feature tell earnest, animal-centric stories about finding safe spaces and looking out for one another. Gints Zilbalodis’s “Flow” and Chris Sanders’s “The Wild Robot,” both lovingly crafted and experimental works of art, are exactly the stories we need right now (and always). Given that both films received Oscar nominations outside the Best Animated Feature category, which rarely happens for animated cinema, such achievements could set a new precedent for the Academy to embrace this wondrous medium more often. Both “Flow” (additionally nominated for Best International Feature) and “The Wild Robot” (additionally nominated for Best Original Score and Best Sound) use techniques in ways only animation can achieve. From the former’s elemental, dialogue-free rendering to the latter’s blend of painterly and CGI styles, the layers of artistry on display feel infinite.
The distinctive world-building of both films could make for an incredibly close race, where each collects major precursor wins leading up to Oscar night. “Flow” already made a splash, having won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature, making it the first independent animated feature to win this particular award. Plenty of leftover deciding factors, from the American Cinema Editors (ACE) Awards and the Annie Awards to the Critics Choice Awards and BAFTAs, will shed light on where momentum can build. Could the arthouse world cinema appeal of “Flow” go far with an increasingly international group of voters? Will the pendulum swing back to awarding a big-budget studio film again? Best Animated Feature is shaping to be a real nail-biter. Let’s take a closer look at which film currently has the frontrunner edge.
Going With The Flow
With over a month until the 97th Academy Awards, writer and director Zilbalodis has already achieved record-setting milestones. “Flow” became the first animated feature film (not including documentaries “Waltz With Bashir” and “Flee“) and the first Latvian film to receive a nomination for Best International Feature. It is now the most-watched film ever in Latvian cinemas, which indicates a steady appreciation among international audiences. This level of passion ought not to be underestimated; “Flow” made the cut in a competitive international feature race, and the film’s nomination in this category is unprecedented. While “Emilia Pérez” is the perceived frontrunner here, the nomination for “Flow” demonstrates extra enthusiasm for Zilbalodis’s work, and that sense of goodwill can certainly extend to the animation branch.
“Flow” has a fascinating behind-the-scenes story full of impressive techniques, including being wholly rendered from the software Blender. It’s easy to imagine fellow artists (not just in animation but visual effects) marveling at the film’s naturalism, whether in the animals’ silhouettes or the immersive nature backgrounds, which maintains focus on visual storytelling more than anything. Beyond quality, an animated feature win for “Flow” would be a groundbreaking moment for animation, as the Academy has yet to award an independent film in this category. “Flow” could make history as the smallest animated feature (mainly from a distribution and budgeting standpoint) to win an Oscar. The idea of an unprecedented indie win is a big “never in my wildest dreams” moment that can resonate within the industry, especially when combined with the film’s underdog quality.
“Flow” took risks, made mountains of a small budget, and has had a passionate following since premiering at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The film has won numerous awards from critics’ organizations, including the NBR, NYFCC, and LAFCA. The film also received a Best Edited Animated Feature Film nomination at ACE; international films rarely get recognized in this category. If “Flow” picks up more televised awards, an underdog narrative can snowball to the point where the win would represent something much bigger than the film itself. As mentioned by Zilbalodis in his Golden Globe speech, “Flow” was made by “a very small, young, but very passionate team, in a place where there isn’t a big film industry.” Not only would a win represent Latvian cinema but also young international filmmakers who work with accessible software and make art without the resources of bigger studios.
An animated feature win would also be unprecedented for Janus Films. The arthouse distributor has a quietly impressive track record of bringing international features such as 2021’s “Drive My Car” and “Flee” and 2022’s “EO” and “All That Breathes” to the Oscars. Janus Films campaigns quite well; “Drive My Car” won Best International Feature and had three additional nominations (including Best Picture). That same year, “Flee” received three nominations (including Best Animated Feature). A year later, “EO” and “All That Breathes” were nominated, the former for Best International Feature and the latter for Best Documentary Feature. For “Flow,” Janus Films is spotlighting the film’s behind-the-scenes-footage, letting the artistry and uniqueness speak for itself.
Adding to the film’s underdog status, the Academy’s animation branch has recently shifted towards awarding non-Pixar/Disney/DreamWorks titles. Following decades of primarily Pixar and Disney winning Best Animated Feature, the Oscars shook up this pattern in the last two years with “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio” and Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and Heron.” Could “Flow” follow a path similar to “The Boy and Heron” (which won the Golden Globe and BAFTA leading up to the Oscars) and win over a bigger-budget studio film (as “The Boy and Heron” did over “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse“)? Miyazaki exists in a category of his very own. His legendary reverence within the industry and the murmurings that “The Boy and Heron” may have been his final film at the time created an alchemy of stars aligning at the right moment. “Flow” doesn’t have this exact narrative but could follow a similar precursor journey if it wins at the BAFTAs.
Into The Wild
Chris Sanders’s “The Wild Robot” had an incredibly strong record-setting showing on Oscar nomination morning, going beyond the animated feature category. While it questionably missed Best Original Song for Maren Morris’s “Kiss the Sky,” the film received nominations for Best Original Score (composed by Kris Bowers) and Best Sound (with Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo, and Leff Lefferts representing). “The Wild Robot” is the first non-Disney animated film to make the Best Sound category since “The Polar Express” in 2004, which rarely recognizes animation in general.
Like “Flow,” “The Wild Robot” has already set unique records with its nominations alone. Composer Kris Bowers, who won the Best Documentary Short last year for “The Last Repair Shop,” became the first person nominated for documentary short and original score. Bowers’s heartfelt, soaring score for “The Wild Robot” makes such a strong impact that it feels like another character in the film. There’s also a great deal of Oscar-winning talent behind the scenes, from Lupita Nyong’o (who delivers an extraordinary voice performance as wild robot Roz) to supervising sound designer Randy Thom and re-recording mixer Gary A. Rizzo (who has a combined 23 Oscar nominations and four wins).
“The Wild Robot” also marks Sanders’s fourth Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. He now joins Pete Docter and Hayao Miyazaki as the directors with the most nominations in this category. Could the fourth time be a charm for Sanders? It’s still early enough in the race for such a narrative to emerge. Finding inspiration in painterly animation, Sanders’s adaptation of Peter Brown’s 2016 children’s book harkens to a classic style that could hit nostalgic notes. The film’s emotional core of survival and love letter to motherhood can also win enough hearts, putting DreamWorks back in the winning circle. The studio hasn’t won Best Animated Feature since 2005’s “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.”
If “The Wild Robot” gains steam at places such as the Annie Awards and the Critics Choice Awards, we might be in for parallels to last year’s trajectory of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” which also began as the perceived frontrunner. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” won all seven of its Annie Award nominations, including Best Animated Feature. “The Wild Robot” received nearly double the number of Annie nominations (12 total) and thus can build momentum here with several opportunities to win. Additionally, a win from ACE would put “The Wild Robot” in the statistically compelling company and give it an edge. Since 2010, ACE’s Best Edited Animated Feature Film winners and the Academy’s Best Animated Feature winners have overlapped on 12 occasions. The two exceptions that won ACE but lost the Oscar were 2014’s “The Lego Movie” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
Who Has The Frontrunner Edge?
On the surface, “The Wild Robot” seems to be the more popular title with the backing of DreamWorks, plus a star-studded cast and crew, many of whom are Oscar winners/nominees and are held in the highest esteem within the industry. The combination of score and sound nominations could also give “The Wild Robot” a boost, in the way that 2021’s “Encanto” (which had score and song nominations) performed and won over “Flee” (which had international and documentary feature nominations). There is no precedent for “Flow” to follow; however, “Flow” is in a very compelling position to make history and become the first international film to win Best Animated Feature at a time when there are more international Academy voters than ever.
Going into this upcoming month of precursor awards, the animated feature race is shaping to be a question of how far an underdog narrative can go. “Flow” is the little cat film that could. The film’s small team comprises first-time Oscar nominees and represents the first Latvian film in Oscars history to be nominated. Enough passion behind the film can go a long way, potentially opening significant doors for independent animators around the globe. “The Wild Robot” could pick up steam late into the season, but as far as current frontrunners go, “Flow” has the edge. Sometimes, all it takes is one televised speech to get the ball rolling. The Golden Globes being the first televised award show, and the only one we had before the Oscar nominations announcement, puts “Flow” in a prime spot to build onto an underdog narrative.
Which film will win at CCA, BAFTA, PGA and eventually the Oscar for Best Animated Feature? “Flow” or “The Wild Robot?” Please let us know on on Next Best Picture’s X account and check out Next Best Picture’s latest Oscar predictions here.
