2025 is the year for anime fans as both Chainsaw Man The Movie – Reze Arc and Demon Slayer Infinity Castle are eligible nominees for the 98th Academy Awards. Both films are just a few of the names listed alongside 35 films under the Best Animated Feature category. Among the other potential nominees are KPop Demon Hunters, Zootopia 2 and Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Can’t Sing.
Chainsaw Man Reze Arc has a box office total of 174 million dollars as of November 23rd, 2025, beating out Demon Slayer’s top spot at the Japanese box office during its opening weekend. However, that isn’t to discredit the latter, with Demon Slayer’s Infinity Castle holding a number one spot for nine weeks during its Japan theatrical debut. Even newcomer KPop Demon Hunters, despite its limited theatrical release, held the number #1 spot on Netflix for eight weeks.
The 35 Eligible Nominees
The list of all 35 Academy Award-eligible nominees are as listed, recognizing films from multiple studios:
- All Operators Are Currently Unavailable
- Arco
- The Bad Guys 2
- Black Butterflies
- Boys Go To Jupiter
- Chainsaw Man – The Movie Reze Arc
- ChaO
- Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing
- David
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
- Dog Man
- Dog of God
- Dragon of Heart – Adventures Beyond This World
- Elio
- Endless Cookie
- Fixed
- Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie
- In Your Dreams
- KPop Demon Hunters
- The Legend of Hei 2
- Light of the World
- Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
- Lost in Starlight
- A Magnificent Life
- Mahavatar Narsimha
- Night of the Zoopocalypse
- Olivia & las Nubes
- 100 Meters
- Out of the Nest
- Scarlet
- Slide
- The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants
- Stitch Head
- The Twits
- Zootopia 2
While animated films aren’t new nominees to the Academy Awards, the influence that these anime-centered films have is remarkable to see, especially in the wake of AI. However, anime films aren’t foreign to the Academy Awards, as seven different Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli movies have been nominated at the Oscars, with Spirited Away winning in 2003 and The Boy and the Heron winning in 2024.
Tune into the 98th Academy Awards when final nominations are announced on Friday, January 16th, 2026. The Academy Awards show officially airs Sunday, March 15th, 2026.
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