The studios want you to see this as animation finally growing up β prestige storytelling for adults, submitted in drama categories at the Golden Globes, proving the medium is no longer a children's afterthought.
Insiders whisper that Wildwood's weak box office could sink it despite critical adoration, and that Disney's Toy Story 5 is playing the nostalgia card hard while Pixar quietly fears being left behind again.
Laika's Wildwood is the studio's first PG-13 film in 17 years and runs 130 minutes, tying the record for longest English-language animated film. The 99th Oscars air March 14, 2027, hosted by Conan O'Brien from the Dolby Theatre. Nominations voting runs Jan. 11-15, 2027, with the shortlist announced Dec. 15, 2026.
The animated feature category has quietly become the most unpredictable race at the Oscars, and for once, the House of Mouse isn't calling the shots.
Laika's Wildwood has emerged as the frontrunner in Variety's Best Animated Feature predictions, updated November 3, 2026, by chief awards editor Clayton Davis, and it is not even close to a kids' movie. The film clocks in at 130 minutes β tying the record for the longest English-language animated feature ever made β and carries a PG-13 rating, the first in Laika's 17-year history as a feature studio. Director and producer Travis Knight, already an Oscar nominee for Kubo and the Two Strings, has earned considerable respect from peers and audiences alike, but the film's less-than-stellar box office performance is a genuine vulnerability in a race where voters often reward visibility over vision.
The depth of this year's field is staggering. Brad Bird brings Ray Gunn, Daniel Chong presents Hoppers, Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado deliver Forgotten Island, and Louis Clichy offers Iron Boy through Sony Pictures Classics. Andrew Stanton, a two-time Oscar winner who directed Finding Nemo and WALL-E, returns with Toy Story 5, a sequel that carries enormous franchise weight.
All of these directors appeared alongside Knight at Variety's Pixels and Pencils panel during the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, a gathering that underscored how many filmmakers are now pushing animation into genuinely adult territory. The most striking data point in the race: since Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio won the animated feature Oscar at the 95th Academy Awards, neither Disney nor Pixar has captured the trophy. The Boy and the Heron, Flow, and KPop Demon Hunters have all claimed the prize instead, a seismic shift for a category that was essentially a two-horse race between Mickey Mouse and Luxo Jr. ever since Shrek won the inaugural award in 2002.
The old guard is not just losing β it is losing repeatedly. Then there is Tangles, the film that refuses to pretend it is for children. First-time feature director Leah Nelson co-wrote the screenplay with Sarah Leavitt, adapting Leavitt's graphic memoir about her mother's battle with Alzheimer's disease in the late 1990s.
Abbi Jacobson voices Sarah, while Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays her mother and also serves as a producer alongside Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen. Both Tangles and Wildwood are being submitted in the drama categories at the Golden Globes rather than the traditional comedy slot for animated films, a deliberate signal that these creative teams want their work judged as serious cinema. The broader question hanging over the race is whether an animated film can crack Best Picture.
Only three have ever earned the nomination β Beauty and the Beast, Up, and Toy Story 3 β and the last came 15 years ago. In a year where documentary You Can See Everything could become the first nonfiction feature nominated for Best Picture, the Academy's appetite for genre-bending recognition is clearly expanding. The shortlist announcement lands Tuesday, December 15, 2026, nominations voting runs January 11-15, 2027, and the official nominations drop Thursday, January 21, 2027.
The 99th Oscars air Sunday, March 14, 2027, at 7 p.m. ET on ABC from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, hosted by Conan O'Brien, with the Governors Awards honoring Glenn Close and Ridley Scott on November 15. Animation's moment is here, whether Hollywood is ready for it or not.
