Two anime features, Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle and Katsuhiro Otomo's Steamboy, are among the ten animated features that have been declared eligible for the best animated feature Academy Award.  Howl's Moving Castle got a great critical response in the U.S..  Retailers looking to capitalize on the publicity will be able to sell  DVD next spring (see 'Howl's Moving Castle DVD -- Spring 2006'); Viz has an Art of, Film Comics, and Poster Books.  Steamboy, the most expensive anime feature ever, has had a more muted critical response here, although DVD sales have been strong (see 'Steamboy DVD Debuts at #23').  Shiji Aramaki's Appleseed was not included in the list. 

 

The other candidates are Chicken Little, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, Wallace & Gromit:  The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Gulliver's Travel, Hoodwinked, Madagascar, Robots, and Valiant. 

 

Three nominees will be announced January 31st.  Miyazaki's Spirited Away won the Best Animated Feature Oscar for 2003.  All three of the Wallace and Gromit shorts were nominated for Oscars; two of them won for best animated short.