The Oscar Narrative: July Predictions - Best Animated Feature

July Predictions
The Good Dinosaur
Inside Out
Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet
The Little Prince
When Marnie Was There

Other Contenders - Minions, Zarafa, The Peanuts Movie, Storks, Kung Fu Panda 3, The Boy and the World, The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water", Robodog, El Americano: The Movie", Home, Strange Magic, Shaun the Sheep Movie, Underdogs, Hotel Transylvania 2

Commentary - The first teaser trailer for The Good Dinosaur is a bit jarring visually, but looks like once it is all put together on screen, could be yet another Pixar movie this year to make a huge splash. I say another, because right now this race is easily one-way with Inside Out so far ahead, that the later contenders will be playing catch up the rest of this year. So that leaves three slots, and there are plenty of big movie contenders to look at like The Peanuts Movie, Minions, potentially Kung Fu Panda 3 (it has a January release date, but will it try a qualifying run?). But GKids is on the rise, and as we know, these animators are not afraid to go for the foreign or the indie, more crafty contenders. Of the multitude of options this year from the studio, it is Salma Hayek's Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet, and When Marnie Was There from Miyazaki protege Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Finally, after making a splash at Cannes, Paramount's pick up The Little Prince could play well with the animation branch, based solely on those first reviews.