DESPICABLE ME 2 GETS OSCAR NOM

Despicable Me 2 has been nominated for an Academy Award alongside other nominees The Croods, Ernest & Celestine, The Wind Rises and Frozen for Best Animated Feature Film.

The announcement was made by Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs and actor Chris Hemsworth on Thursday, January 16th at 5:38 a.m. PT / 8:38 a.m. ET in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California.

Despicable Me 2 featured a clip of writing/production team The Aqua League’s track “Syncopated” performed by RacqDolo (courtesy of Vintage 75 Music/Arts of Alice and Indigi Music). The production team (Doug Simpson, Kareem Knight) has also had their music featured in other films from Universal Pictures including Fast Five and Fast and Furious 6.

Pharrell William’s song “Happy” was also nominated for Best Original Song from the film.

In its opening weekend, Despicable Me 2 ranked #1, grossing $83 million dollars and went on to earn $368 million domestically and nearly $1 billion dollars worldwide.

The 86th Oscars will air live on Sunday, March 2, 2014, at 7p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT on ABC and online at oscar.go.com.