The only animated film to garner a Best Picture nomination before the Best Animated Feature category’s creation was Beauty and the Beast, way back in 1991.
Before this award, animated features had to duke it out for a Best Picture nomination slot, or they were just handed Special Achievement Awards.
Though we still have a month and a half to go before 2016 Oscars eligibility ends, it looks like the Best Animated Feature category is shaping up to be quite well-rounded.
The Academy has not always been quite so keen on animation, though, and it’s hard to believe that the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature came intoto being just fifteen years ago, in 2001, when it claimed its first winner–Shrek.