The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given the greenlight for 17 films to compete in the best animated feature film Oscar category in the 2002 Academy Awards competition.

The 17 films are:

Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights
Alibaba & the Forty Thieves
Eden
El bosque animado (The Living Forest)
Hey Arnold! The Movie
Ice Age
Jonah - A VeggieTales Movie
Lilo & Stitch
Mutant Aliens
The Powerpuff Girls Movie
The Princess and the Pea
Return to Never Land
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Spirited Away
Stuart Little 2
Treasure Planet
The Wild Thornberrys Movie

The eligibility of two of the films - Eden and The Wild Thornberrys Movie - is subject to their opening in Los Angeles prior to December 31. Eden is scheduled to open on December 13 and The Wild Thornberrys Movie on December 20.

The Academy will whittle down the 17 greenlit animations to a final shortlist of between one and five films ahead of the Oscar ceremony on March 23 next year