Debate rages as ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ fans can’t decide if it’s an animated film or not

Who would have thought the war for Pandora would be waged right here on Earth? With the list of Oscar nominees finally being released last month, fans of Avatar: The Way of Water have begun to debate which category the film should have been placed into.

As it stands now, The Way of Water finds itself nominated for Best Picture, alongside heavy hitters like: All Quiet on the Western Front, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness, and Women Talking. No pressure.

The competition couldn’t be more fierce for James Cameron’s sci-fi epic, but some folks on Reddit are arguing that Avatar shouldn’t even be considered for Best Picture — it should be up for Best Animated Feature Film.

(First of all, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. We cried, you cried, the entire world cried. As cathartic and melancholy as it is heartwarming, Marcel just might win the Oscar this year.)

Opinions aside, the argument here is pretty sound. Avatar: The Way of Water does use a ton of animation (obviously), so why wouldn’t it be up for the category?

The most likely, if most boring, reason that Avatar isn’t included with the Animation category is that it wasn’t submitted for category consideration by its producers.