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The Sky Crawlers, Sword of the Stranger vie with 12 other films for 3 slots

Two anime films, Mamoru Oshii and Production I.G's The Sky Crawlers and Masahiro Ando and BONES' Sword of the Stranger, are among the 14 films submitted this year for the three possible nomination slots in the Best Animated Feature category of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Oscars awards. The two films are competing with Bolt, Delgo, Dragon Hunters, Fly Me to the Moon, Igor, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, $9.99, The Tale of Despereaux, Waltz With Bashir, WALL-E, and Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! The academy allows up to three nominations in this category if more than eight films are submitted; had there been 16 or more films submitted, the academy would have allowed up to five nominations. The academy will announce the Oscar nominations on January 22.

Sony Pictures acquired the rights to release The Sky Crawlers military romance film (pictured at right) in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand. Bandai Entertainment gave the Sword of the Stranger samurai action film (pictured at left) a limited Los Angeles and New York City run in July, which qualified the film for possible Oscar consideration. The only Japanese film to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar in the category's seven-year history was Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away in 2002.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter