Evangelion 1.0: You (No) Take Oscar!

Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone is already out of the race for Oscars, before the race even began. The reason being that, basically, the film is just too damn old. Eva 1.0 premiered in Japan way back in September 2007, and the Academy Award Rules leave no room for foreign films that were exhibited outside the U.S. before January 1, 2008. Not that it had any chance to win, anyway, against the likes of Pixar or Ghibli.



Speaking of which, both Pixar (duh!) and Ghibli are striving for this year's Best Animated Feature award. Most bets seem to be with Pixar's CG animation film Up, and that's not the only one that Ghibli's Ponyo will have to seriously worry about. The list below shows the likely candidates that are were eligible for this category, as put together by Golden Derby.

"Astro Boy" (Summit Entertainment)
"Battle for Terra" (Roadside Attractions)
"A Christmas Carol" (Walt Disney Pictures)
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (Sony Pictures Entertainment)
"Coraline" (Focus Features)
"Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone" (Funimation)
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" (20th Century Fox)
"Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" (20th Century Fox)
"Mary and Max" (IFC Films)
"Monsters vs. Aliens" (Paramount Pictures)
"9" (Focus Features)
"Planet 51" (Sony Pictures Entertainment)
"Ponyo" (Walt Disney Pictures)
"The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney Pictures)
"Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure" (Walt Disney Pictures)
"Up" (Walt Disney Pictures)

So those were 16 titles, but with Evangelion out of the race, that leaves a maximum of 15 candidates, which means that only 3 of them will actually be nominated for the award (had there been at least 16 eligible animations, the Oscar rules would've allowed for 5 nominees).

Well... prepare for another year with no anime taking the Oscar.