Did you know: Only Three Animated Films Have Been Nominated For Best Picture At The Academy Awards?

There are people who still argue that animated films aren’t real films, but these three movies disagree. They were all distributed by the same company and were well-received by fans and critics when they premiered, which is one thing they all have in common; the other is that they were all nominated for the prestigious Best Picture category at the Academy Awards (aka The Oscars). Chances are you know these movies and you love them. Without further ado, here they are:

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Belle, a beautiful young woman, agrees to live with the Beast in exchange for the return of her abducted father. Soon, Belle discovers that her hideous captor is actually an enchanted prince.

Beauty and the Beast is the 30th Disney animated feature film and starred Paige O’Hara and Robby Benson voicing the titular characters. It became the first animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 64th Academy Awards, where it won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for its title song and received additional nominations for Best Original Song and Best Sound. In April 1994, Beauty and the Beast became Disney’s first animated film to be adapted into a Broadway musical, which ran until 2007.

The love for this love story endured so much that in 2017, Disney released a live-action remake starring Emma Watson and Dan Steven. The movie grossed ~ $1.264 billion.

Up (2009)

Carl, an old widower, goes off on an adventure in his flying house in search of Paradise Falls, his wife’s dream destination.

Up was Pixar’s first film to be presented in 3D format, hence extra care and delicacy were showered on it than most of the other releases up to that point. 

The film received critical acclaim from critics for its screenplay, characters, themes, narrative, Asner’s (Carl) vocal performance, the musical score (by Michael Giacchino), and the opening sequence. It earned $735.1 million worldwide, finishing its theatrical run as the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2009. 

Up was nominated for five awards at the 82nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture (the second animated film in history). It won two and received numerous accolades. 

A follow-up streaming television series called Dug Days was released on Disney+ in 2021. It focuses on Dug and Carl as they reside in suburbia.

Toy Story (2010)

Before Andy leaves for college, his toys are mistakenly delivered to a daycare center. Woody convinces the other toys that they were not dumped and leads them on an expedition back home.

It became the second Pixar film (after Up) and third animated film overall (after Beauty and the Beast and Up), as well as the third film produced by Walt Disney Pictures to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. The film received four more Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Animated Feature, and Best Original Song, winning the latter two. 

Toy Story 3 earned $1.067 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2010, and the fourth highest-grossing film of all time during its theatrical run. It is also the first animated film to reach $1 billion at the box office and was the highest-grossing animated film of all time. It is one of the most expensive films of all time and Pixar’s highest-grossing film, all records held at the time of its release. 

Its success, naturally, drove another sequel, Toy Story 4, which was released in June 2019.