Introduction
Hey, hey, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is here for yet another special article and today, It is that time of the year where I get to talk about some of the animated movies I am looking forward to seeing at this year’s Annecy International Film Festival! However, I have a surprise waiting for you adventurers, so stay tuned!
As a reminder, the Annecy Festival, held every June in the French alps town of the same name, brings in animation fans, studios and others from all around the world for a week of showcasing the best that animation has to offer, whether it is upcoming animated movies, animated shorts and even virtual reality works! This time, it is going to be different since this is going to be the 50th edition of the Festival, and this festival is about to go big, or go home!
Given Annecy has announced the feature films that will be showcased at the festival across two competition categories and three out-of-competition categories. They are as follows:
- Official Competition: The animated movies competing in the festival’s official competition, featuring some of the most exciting and upcoming animated movies of 2026.
- Contrechamp: While there are no criteria for which animated movies compete in this category, the animated movies selected are ones that are offering something unique and different, whether it is the concept, the writing or animation style.
- Annecy Presents: An out-of-competition selection where these movies don’t fit into the Competition line-up, but are great enough to be showcased at the festival. Most of these movies are good quality animated movies for the family and general audience.
- Midnight Screenings: Movies meant for a more mature and adult-orientated audience, these movies are riskier, have varying animation styles and of course, are not suited for the family audience. Sure, I ave not included any Midnight Screenings movies on the list, but they are still working checking out.
- Special Events: Annecy holds special screenings and first looks at some of the movies that will also be showcased, including some upcoming animated movies at various showcases.
With so many animated movies getting their time to shine at the festival, it would be exhausting to cover every one of them. That said, given this year was such an insanely stacked year for the festival in general, trying to pick my top 5 Annecy Film Festival movies to look out for just like last year would be extremely tough, so instead, I will showcase what animated movies I am excited about this lineup.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
Honourable Mentions
Considering that a lot of animated movies showing at this year’s Annecy Festival are movies I already mentioned in some form before, particularly in my 12 into 2026 Post and my post about last year’s Annecy Film Festival, I wanted to talk more about the animated movies I had yet to mention that I am excited to check out.
Hence, if you want to see the animated movies from the festival worth seeing, check out the above two articles for a detailed look, but for now, here are the movies I talked about in both articles that I am excited to cover regardless:
| Category | Movie |
| Competition | 1. Decorado 2. Lucy Lost 3. The Violinist 4. Viva Carmen! (aka Carmen) |
| Contrechamp | Muyi (aka Muyi and the Handsome General) |
| Annecy Presents | 1. Brave Cat 2. Julian |
I also have to give a shout-out to one animated movie I saw last year that will showcase at this year’s festival, and one that I highly recommend considering it’s in my top 5 most animated movies of 2025. That movie is:
- Nobody (Competition)
With that out of the way, time to talk about my picks for this year’s edition, divided into the Main Selection movies and the Studio Announcement movies where the big animation studios announce their picks to give my picks an equal chance to stand out (with the expected or actual release dates if they are available). Let’s go!
Main Selection
In Waves (Competition)
- Director: Nguyen Phuong Mai
- Animation Studios: Silex Films and Gao Shan Pictures
- Country of Origin: France and Belgium
- Expected Release Date: 1 July 2026 (in France)
Given my most favourite animated movie of 2025, Little Amelie or the Character of Rain, was produced by two debutants who left a lasting impression, it is not surprising that one of the favourites to win the coveted Annecy Cristal is an animated movie also directed by a first-time director about two teenagers in America who fell in love with each other over their shared love for surfing, and as one fell into sickness, they both need each other to fight through the sickness together.
In Waves was already getting a lot of buzz, especially given it will also debut at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, and with an English voice cast being announced, In Waves might be one of the big favourites for the awards season. Let’s hope the hype was really worth it, because I am curious to see how this will turn out, evne amidst the stiff competition from the already stacked lineup in the Competition category.
We Are Aliens (Competition)
- Director: Kohei Kadowaki
- Animation Studio: Nothing New (with Miyu Productions)
- Country of Origin: Japan and France
What a coincidence, there is another movie in the same lineup as In Waves tackling friendship, but in a slightly different manner, as it focused on two Japanese boys becoming close friends, sharing irreplaceable moments until a small incident suddenly tears both of their bonds apart.
Given that this is getting a Cannes spotlight just like In Waves, it’s interesting that we are getting two similar movies about friendship, but both movies could not have been more different. It would be interesting to see how they both compare once they get their time to shine.
58th (Contrechamp)
- Director: Carl Joseph E. Papa
- Animation Studio: GMA Pictures
- Country of Origin: The Philippines
- Release Date: 31 January 2026 (in The Netherlands as part of International Film Festival Rotterdam)
58th marks the return of loved Filippino animator Carl Joseph E. Papa (who produced one of my most favourite animated movies of 2024, The Missing, which also got shown at Annecy in 2024) as he brings his rotoscoping expertise to another story set in his homeland of The Philippines, this time focusing on families of victims of the Maguindanao Massacre fighting for justice and accountability for the tragedy.
The Contrechamp movies showcase different and more experimental stories and animation styles, and once again I am excited to see another Papa classic that represents his country with so much pride. Let’s hope this turns out to be as great as The Missing!
A New Dawn (Contrechamp)
- Director: Yoshitoshi Shinomiya
- Animation Studios: Miyu Productions and Asmik Ace
- Country of Origin: Japan and France
- Release Date: 4 June 2026 (in Singapore)
A New Dawn is an animated movie focusing on a teenager living in his disappeared father’s firework factory as he is determined to find a mythical firework and launch it before the factor closes for good, and brings forth two well-known animation studios, Miyu Productions and Asmik Ace, into the spotlight.
The funny thing is that I am going to see this movie before heading to Annecy, as it is releasing in Singapore on my birthday week, meaning I will not be covering this while at Annecy. With that said, I am hoping that its 3.1 Letterboxd score, which is quite low for Annecy Contrechamp standards, will not be indicative that this won’t be good. I hope I am right in this judgement.
The Last Whale Singer (Annecy Presents)
- Director: Reza Memari
- Animation Studios: Telescope Animation and PFX
- Country of Origin: Germany, Czechia, and Canada
- Release Date: 12 February 2026 (in Germany)
While once again the Annecy Presents selection is slightly better than last year which already have four fantastic animated movies in the lineup with 100 Meters, I Am Frankelda, Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog, and Endless Journey of Love, and that this year’s lineup already have Julian and Brave Cat which already makes this lineup stacked. However, it seems there are two more movies in this lineup to keep an eye for.
The Last Whale Singer focuses on a humpback whale and his friends on an adventure to discover a mystical song that can save his oceans from destruction, and while this was directed by the same guy behind Richard the Stork, a movie I do not have favourable views of, and I was not looking forward to seeing it, it was when I saw the slightly favourable reviews of it that made me change my journey. While I still have a personal vendetta against German animated movies, this looks set to beat Lissi and the Wild Emperor as the best German animated movie in existence, which is quite a high bar to clear considering how mediocre German animation is on average. Hopefully, this will be good at least, especially given Viva Kids already picked it up for an early June release, and you know they have great taste, am I right???
Yugly (Annecy Presents)
- Directors: Jeremie Degruson and Yanis Belaid
- Animation Studio: nWave Studios
- Country of Origin: Belgium and France
- Expected Release Date: 14 October 2026 (in France)
Just as I was done covering the best animated movie produced by nWave ever in Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog this year, it seems they are not done just yet because they are producing their next movie with Yugly, a hideous-looking dog looking to make it big in a dog show despite his… ugliness to say the least.
Considering my high praise over Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog, this is already a tall ask, but given one of the directors is responsible for The Inseparables, the best non-Chickenhare nWave movie ever, I am interested to see what he has up in store for this one!
Minions & Monsters (Special Events)
- Director: Pierre Coffin
- Animation Studio: Illumination Entertainment
- Country of Origin: United States
- Expected Release Date: 1 July 2026 (in Singapore)
Of the special events screenings, it is interesting that the opening movie of the entire festival will be the third Minions movies, as three new Minions must save the planet after unleashing monsters onto the whole world just for the purpose of producing their new movie.
I know that the Despicable Movie movies and the spinoff series, Minions, is a massive cash cow for Illumination Entertainment, but it also takes a lot of nerve for the Annecy committee to not give a Competition movie an opening film act, and instead go for a Minions movie. I hope Illumination knows what they are doing, because after being fairly disappointed with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie earlier this year, they really need to get their act together.
Wildwood (Special Events)
- Directors: Travis Knight
- Animation Studio: Laika
- Country of Origin: United States
- Expected Release Date: 23 October 2026 (in the United States)
Finally, of all the animated movies of 2026, this might be one of the most anticipated by a good margin, and that is the return of well-loved stop-motion specialists Laika, as a girl travels through an enchanted forest to save her baby brother, and discovers a hidden realm within where the stakes of saving both her brother and the realm hangs in the balance.
I got to confess something: I have never watched a single Laika movie before, which is so embarrassing. In my defence, given covering family-friendly foreign CG animated movies and other non-mainstream animated movies is my speciality, I did not cover a lot of mainstream animated movies, so Wildwood will most likely be my first ever Laika experience. Hopefully, my first ever Laika experience will be damn worth it!
Studio Announcements
Forgotten Island
- Directors: Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford
- Animation Studio: DreamWorks Animation
- Country of Origin: United States
- Expected Release Date: 24 September 2026 (in Singapore)
Two years after producing my most favourite animated movie of 2024 with The Wild Robot, DreamWorks has returned to showcase what could be my most anticipated animated movie for the rest of 2026 with this exciting animated movie about two friends from The Philippines who found themselves on a forgotten island, and discovered that the only way to get back home could come at a cost of their childhood memories.
While that sounds quite similar to In Waves and We Are Aliens, this is DreamWorks we are talking, and getting Joel Crawford, who produced a top-tier DreamWorks movie with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, this is already one exciting animated movie, especially given the CinemaCon folks were raving this movie when they see an incomplete version of this movie there. I cannot wait to head to this island, so sign me up, DreamWorks!
Ray Gunn
- Director: Brad Bird
- Animation Studio: Skydance Animation
- Country of Origin: United States
I had covered three Skydance Animation animated movies (including their best movie Swapped this year), and while this studio is in hot water considering the person in charge and the alleged terrible working conditions behind the scene, that is not stopping Pixar veteran Brad Bird from finally bringing his vision of many years into life. Bird has worked with them to produce his noir detective movie about a detective deep into a case involving aliens, murder and a multimedia star who might be the key to solving the case.
Is Skydance Animation one of the worst mainstream animation studios around? Absolutely. Are they quite infamous for what they do? Yes. Is this stopping me from getting excited about this at the very least given Brad Bird’s involvement? Yes. Say what you will, but I am giving this a chance and I am hoping this will not be a disaster due to the person in charge of the studio. Hopefully.
Gatto
- Director: Enrico Cassrosa
- Animation Studio: Pixar
- Country of Origin: United States
- Expected Release Date: 5 March 2027 (in the United States)
Finally, after producing my most favourite animated movie of 2026 so far in Hoppers, Pixar is going to make a huge announcement about the next animated movies in line, including Gatto (directed by the same person behind 2021’s Luca) which is bringing Pixar to an unchartered territory: anything other than CG, as this movie about a black cat finding purpose in his life in Italy.
While there are not a lot of details regarding Gatto so far, we are getting this movie in theatres next year, and hopefully, this turns out to be another great animated movie from Pixar.
One More Thing…
So, there is one more thing I need to address. In the last two editions, I covered the Annecy movies in the lineup to keep an eye out for, and while I am doing it again for this year’s edition, there is one more surprise that would not surprise you if you have seen some of my my past posts on Instagram and Bluesky. That is…
I AM GOING TO ANNECY THIS YEAR!
This means that this list is also going to be the movies I am hoping to see at Annecy, and that include the animated movies that are only part of the honourable mentions since I already covered them. I also plan to write up a blog series about my entire journey so that you can have a look at what Annecy is like. Who knows, maybe that may convince you to travel to basically the Mecca of animation four 7 days of animation madness! Of course, I am going to write up my 2026 Animated Movie Rundowns covering the Annecy movies, so stay tuned!
Conclusion
There are a good number of animated movies from Annecy this year to look out for, and considering I am heading there, I cannot wait to showcase what the actual festival has to offer!
Thank you so much for joining me on this adventure. Tune in next time as I explore more animated movies from all across the world. Until next time, see you on the next adventure!
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