Richard Curtis’s That Christmas and Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl both made the eight-strong longlist for best children’s and family film, as did Pharrell Williams’ Lego biopic Piece By Piece, the acclaimed The Wild Robot, and Netflix’s animated fantasy Spellbound.
The third Paddington film was entered, Bafta confirmed, but did not make the cut. Despicable Me 4 and Kung Fu Panda 4 were also overlooked.
Other family-friendly hits Inside Out 2 and Moana 2 will also not be nominated for the new award because their studios did not put them up for it – although they are on the longlist for best animated film, a separate prize.
The children’s and family category is Bafta’s first new award for five years. It is open to any film that Bafta says has a “specific inter-generational appeal to children, young people and adults”.
Films with a rating of U, PG or 12A were eligible, and 19 movies were entered in total.
Bafta said the judging process was “thorough”, with jury members watching all eligible films before voting “independently and confidentially”.
