Dozen animated features vie for Oscar's shortlist

November 12, 2007 While most years find Oscar prognosticators asking if there will be enough quality animated features to activate the category and attract voters, this year animation is riding high. "Any year that you can see (DreamWorks Animation's) 'Shrek the Third' and (Fox's) 'The Simpsons Movie' in the same year you can see a movie from Bob Zemeckis, Brad Bird and Jerry Seinfeld, it's a good year," says Bill Damaschke, DreamWorks Animation's head of creative development and production. According to the Academy's rules, it takes eight or more eligible films to warrant a category at all (a sure thing for 2007), and when there's between eight and 15 qualified features, a maximum of three nominations is allowed (16 or more films engender five nominations).

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