Oscar Experts say it’s ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ vs. ‘The Boy and the Heron’ for Best Animated Feature
Having trouble predicting what will win the Best Animated Feature category at the 2024 Academy Awards? Let’s consult Gold Derby’s Oscar Experts! These savvy prognosticators from major media outlets have chimed in with their first round of predictions, and they say the race is between “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “The Boy and the Heron.” The other three Academy Award nominees are “Elemental,” “Nimona” and “Robot Dreams.”
As of this writing, a leading 16 out of our 20 Oscar Experts are predicting a victory for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” from Sony Pictures Releasing: Andrea Mandell (People Magazine), Anne Thompson (Indiewire), Christopher Rosen (Gold Derby), Claudia Puig (KPCC), Jazz Tangcay (Variety), Joyce Eng (Gold Derby), Keith Simanton (IMDb), Matt Neglia (Next Best Picture), Michael Musto (Queerty), Peter Travers (ABC), Ray Richmond (Gold Derby), Sasha Stone (Awards Daily), Susan Wloszczyna (Gold Derby), Thelma Adams (Gold Derby), Tom O’Neil (Gold Derby) and Wilson Morales (BlackFilmandTV).
The animated superhero sequel continues the story of a young Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) as he travels across universes and encounters many different versions of Spider-Man. The original film, “Into the Spider-Verse,” spun its web around the Best Animated Feature trophy for the year 2018, which means “Across the Spider-Verse” would make “Spider-Man” the first animated franchise ever to win for its first two editions.
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The remaining four Oscarologists — Eric Deggans (NPR), Nikki Novak (Fandango), Susan King (Gold Derby) and Tariq Khan (Gold Derby) — are going with “The Boy and the Heron” from Studio Ghibli.
Director/writer Hayao Miyazaki won his first (and so far only) competitive Oscar for “Spirited Away” (2002), and he also took home an Honorary Award in 2015. His latest animated feature, “The Boy and the Heron,” tells the story of a youngster during the Pacific War who, while grieving over his mother’s death, enters a fantastical world via an abandoned tower.
Currently at Gold Derby, none of our Experts are predicting wins for the other three Best Animated Feature nominees: “Elemental” from Pixar Animation Studios, “Nimona” from Annapurna Pictures and “Robot Dreams” from Arcadia Motion Pictures. However, many more awards pundits will soon be making or updating their own Oscar predictions, so that could change in the coming weeks.
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