There Will Be Five Nominated Animated Films This Year for Oscars

There were a record number of animated films submitted for consideration for this year's Oscars - 20!

The 20 submitted features are:

“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”

I've bolded the pictures that I think really have a shot, although I'm not familiar with all of the films listed.  But Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakuel?  What the heck are they smoking?  Thanks for submitting, though, as this is such a strong year for animation and there needed to be a minimum of 16 films submitted to allow for 5 nominations.  It would have been criminal this year to whittle the list down to only three.

9 Teaser Trailer

This looks really interesting. 9 was a 2005 Oscar nominated short by director Shane Acker, who was part of the Lord of the Rings special effects team. Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted) have teamed up to produce a full length film also named 9, directed by Shane Acker. The animated film has the voice talents of Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer, and John C. Reilly.

The film takes place in a world parallel to our own, in which the very legacy of humanity is threatened. A community of fully mobile rag dolls living a post-apocalyptic existence find one of their own, 9 (Wood), displaying leadership qualities that may help them to survive. The conflicted but resilient community includes 1 (Plummer), a domineering war veteran; 2 (Landau), an aged inventor; 5 (Reilly), a stalwart mechanic; 6 (Glover), a visionary and artist; and 7 (Connelly), a brave warrior.

Looks amazing and I am very intrigued after watching the original short film. 9 will be out on 9-9-09!