Mary and Max enters the Oscar race!

source: variety.com

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced the shortlist of films that will compete for Best Animated Feature at next year’s Oscar ceremony. Australia’s own Mary and Max is one of 20 films that are under consideration.

One of the Academy rules is that if more than 16 films are submitted for consideration, the category expands to five nominations.

The shortlist is as follows:

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Astro Boy
Battle for Terra
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Disney’s A Christmas Carol
The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Mary and Max
The Missing Lynx
Monsters vs. Aliens
9
Planet 51
Ponyo
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
A Town Called Panic
Up

The last time there were five nominees was in 2002, when Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away took the top prize.

If I had to make some predictions, I would say the five frontrunners are Up, Ponyo, Coraline, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and our very own Mary and Max. Critics didn’t fall in love with A Christmas Carol, Monsters vs. Aliens or Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Perhaps the only wildcard is Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, which is yet to receive a wide release in the U.S.

Mary and Max is not the only major Aussie Oscar contender. Samson and Delilah has been entered for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

The 82nd Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on the 7th of March, 2010. The ceremony will be hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

Discuss: So, which four movies will lose to Up?