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Ponyo Not Nominated for Oscars (Updated)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has announced its nominations for The 82nd Academy Awards on Tuesday morning, and Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's Ponyo anime film is not among the five nominated films in the Animated Feature Film category.

The five nominated films are:

• Coraline (Henry Selick)
• Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)
• The Princess and the Frog (John Musker, Ron Clements)
• The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)
• Up (Pete Docter)

Miyazaki's two previous films, Spirited Away nor Howl's Moving Castle, were both nominated for Oscars, and Spirited Away won the Animated Feature Film category in 2003.

Ponyo and David Bowers's computer-animated adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy manga were among the record 20 films that were submitted for consideration to be nominated in the Animated Feature Film category. Enough films qualified to expand the field of nominees to five this year. The awards will be presented on March 7.

The "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" theme song was one of 63 songs submitted for consideration in the Original Song category, but it was not nominated. There were no nominations from Japan in the Foreign Language Film or Short Film (Animated) categories. Last year, these categories were won by Yojiro Takita's live-action Departures (Okuribito) film and Kunio Katō's "La Maison en Petits Cubes" anime short, respectively. It was the first time that either category was won by a Japanese film. Spirited Away and "La Maison en Petits Cubes" are the only anime works to ever win Oscars.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association did not nominate Ponyo in the Best Animated Feature Film category of The 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards in December, although Ponyo was among the 15 films that qualified for consideration. The only difference between the Golden Globes and Oscars in their Animated Feature Film nominees is that the Golden Globes had Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs instead of The Secret of Kells. Up won the Golden Glboe for the category last month.

Update: More background information added.

Update 2: Up is the first animated film since 1991's Beauty and the Beast to be nominated for Best Picture.