20 Animated Films Compete for Oscar

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has released a list of twenty films that have been submitted for this year's Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Under the rules for this category, a maximum of 5 features can be nominated in a year in which the field of eligible entries numbers at least 16. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and meet all of the category's other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process. Several of the films, including "Alvin and the Chipmunks 2" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox" have yet to do that.

Previous winners of the award, now in its ninth year, include "Shrek," "Spirited Away," "Finding Nemo," and last year's "WALL-E." The 82nd Academy Award nominations will be announced February 2nd, 2010.

The 20 animated features (in alphabetical order):

* 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