Wallace and Gromit vie for Oscar glory

Aardman Animations' Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit is among 10 films vying for Oscar success as the animated feature contenders were unveiled yesterday.

Academy chiefs selected a shortlist comprising titles from India and Japan and will now spend the next couple of months deliberating before the final three nominees are announced on January 31 2006.

Wallace, which has sold more than $115m (£67m) in tickets worldwide so far, will compete for the statuette with fellow UK production Valiant, as well as Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, Robots and Madagascar.

The roster includes Steamboy, Chicken Little, Hoodwinked, and Howl's Moving Castle from Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki, and Gulliver's Travel from India.

To qualify for Oscar consideration each of these pictures has to play for seven consecutive days in the Los Angeles area before December 31.

So far eight have gone on release, with Hoodwinked due to launch on December 23 through Harvey and Bob Weinstein's new Weinstein Company.

That leaves Gulliver's Travel, which was produced through India's Mayajaal Entertainment and Pentamedia Graphics and so far does not appear to have a US release in the pipeline. Calls to the company's offices on the sub-continent were unreturned yesterday.

Three Aardman Animations productions have earned Oscar nominations in the past, namely A Grand Day Out and winners The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave.

Academy rules state that an animated feature contender is also eligible to compete in other categories including best feature, as long as they satisfy criteria in other categories.

The 78th annual Academy Awards will be handed out at a ceremony in Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on March 5 2006.

The 2005/06 awards season is in its early stages and is already shaping up to be one of the most closely fought across the board, with no clear leaders in any category so far.

The race may become a little clearer with the release of three films that are expected to generate many nominations - Memoirs of a Geisha from Chicago director Rob Marshall, Peter Jackson's King Kong, and Steven Spielberg's eagerly anticipated drama Munich.