2019 Oscars: Best Animated Feature Predictions

It’s become a race between Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” with Brad Bird duking it out with Phil Lord and Chris Miller for superhero supremacy.

Bird put the focus on Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) in the sequel to his 2004 Oscar winner, and producers Lord and Miller introduced Miles Morales — the first Spidey of color — while breaking the rules of animation.

Yet, despite the popularity and success of “Incredibles 2″ (with its record $608.5 million domestic gross), Spider-Verse” (co-directed by Peter Ramsey, Bob Bob Persichetti, and Rodney Rothman) has the momentum. It has earned all of the awards acclaim, including the Golden Globe and Producers Guild prizes.

Meanwhile, Disney offered its own sequel to an Oscar-nominated original, “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” a step up in world building and re-introducing the Disney Princesses.

And on the indie side, there’s Wes Anderson’s acclaimed Japanese accented smash, “Isle of Dogs” (Fox Searchlight), his stop-motion follow-up to Oscar-nominated “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” Also, GKids earned its 11th nomination with “Mirai,” the lovely time-traveling fantasy from Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda.

The contenders are ranked by their likelihood of winning:

“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (Sony)
“Incredibles 2” (Disney/Pixar)
“Ralph Breaks the Internet” (Disney)
“Isle of Dogs” (Fox Searchlight)
“Mirai” (GKids)