ANALYSIS: Netflix Overtakes Disney In 2019 Annie Award Nominations

The nominations for the 47th annual ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards were announced today, and Disney’s stranglehold over the organization has loosened ever so slightly, thanks in large part to the streaming service Netflix, which has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into series and feature production at dozens of studios around the globe.

By our count, Netflix leads all companies with 37 nominations to Disney’s 28 nominations. For Disney, it’s a steep decline from the 2018 awards, where it scored 42 nominations. (Dreamworks Animation rounds out the top three with 19 nominations.)

Some things, of course, don’t change. For the fifth straight year in a row, a Walt Disney Company film received the most feature film nominations. This year, it’s Frozen 2 with eight nods, though it should be noted that it tied for that amount with Laika’s Missing Link. There’s lots of diversity at the top of the feature film pack. In addition to those two films, Netflix’s first original feature Klaus drew seven nominations, while Toy Story 4, How to Train You Dragon: The Hidden World, and I Lost My Body earned six nominations apiece.

Unlike 2018, which turned out to be the year of Spider-Verse, there is no clear feature frontrunner among the top nomination earners. Even Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering with You is in play with four nominations. Shinkai picked up nominations in key categories like writing and directing, in addition to best indie feature and fx animation.

Let’s rephrase that actually: there is a frontrunner if we’re talking strictly in terms of filmmaking quality, but it’s not a frontrunner in terms of who is going to win. For effectively using the medium of animation to tell a bold and original story, there’s really no contest between Jérémy Clapin’s I Lost My Body and everyone else. It’s not only the best animated film of the year, but one of the best of the decade. But we think it’s asking too much of ASIFA-Hollywood members, a highly industry-centric group, to reward a micro-budget French film over much glitzier Hollywood entries. So we’re back to where we started: there’s no clear front-runner.

Also, a couple of key omissions from the feature animation race: the cg animation remake of The Lion King and the Chinese feature Ne Zha. The Lion King is not only 100% animated, it’s the highest-grossing animated feature of all-time, yet Disney has taken a corporate stance that it’s not animated. Ne Zha, meanwhile, is the fourth-highest grossing animated feature globally this year. It may be that neither film entered the competition, but the Annie Awards have nominated films in the past that weren’t entered. It’s certainly bizarre to have two of the top four grossing animated films of the year missing from the competition entirely.

As strong a showing as Netflix made in the feature categories, it actually scored the majority of its nominations on the series side, with Love, Death & Robots leading all series with five nominations. Netflix did well with animation for younger kids — DHX Media’s Carmen Sandiego earned four nods and its Jibjab-produced series Ask the Storybots came in with three — but it really excelled in animation for teens and adults, with 13 noms for its mature series offerings. They could have had even more series nominations if Green Eggs and Ham had been properly recognized for its animation and production design. Curiously, the project received just one nomination — for editorial. Maybe it’ll be part of next year’s cycle?

With an overwhelming amount of content being produced for streaming nowadays, there are obviously going to be some worthwhile projects left out of the mix. Annie Award organizers reported a 20% increase in submissions this year, totalling over 1,900 entries. Still, there are a lot of headscratchers. For example, the exceptional adult animated series Undone, created by Tornante Company for Amazon Studios, received just a single nomination, and missed out on an obvious recognition in the directing category. Yet Disney’s long-running series of Mickey Mouse shorts yet again picked up a directing nod, one of three nominations it received.

Over the last five years, Disney’s Mickey Mouse series has received a total of 21 nominations. The shorts are perfectly fine for what they are, but they’re not 21 nominations-good, especially at the expense of a rapidly-maturing industry where studios are innovating and shattering boundaries. It may be time to re-establish criteria for how certain Annie categories are judged so that default series don’t wind up receiving nominations over more worthwhile newcomers.

One category that has improved in recent years is the shorts category, which nominated a 100% independent European slate. There’s usually at least one American film in the line-up, and there were some quality American shorts left off of the list, but the choices made are solid. They even threw in Thomas Renoldner’s zany experimental short Don’t Know What, which won the grand prize at Ottawa a few months ago, and Tomek Popakul’s Acid Rain, the top vote-getter in Cartoon Brew’s survey of industry experts. I don’t know who was on the selection committee for that category, but they should give themselves a pat on the back.

In addition to the competitive categories, juried awards will be presented to honor “unparalleled achievement and exceptional contributions to animation.” The Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement will be presented to Satoshi Kon (posthumously), Henry Selick, and the directorial team of Ron Clements and John Musker. The June Foray Award will be presented to Jeanette Bonds, the co-founder and director of the GLAS Animation Festival, while the Ub Iwerks Award for technical achievement will be given to cg pioneer Jim Blinn, who first became widely known for his work as a computer graphics expert at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Voting for this year’s Annie Awards will begin on January 1, 2020. The Annie Awards will take place on Saturday, January 25, 2020 at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.

The complete list of nominees is below:

Best Feature

Frozen 2
Walt Disney Animation Studios

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Dreamworks Animation

Klaus
Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine

Missing Link
Laika, LLC

Toy Story 4
Pixar Animation Studios

Best Indie Feature

Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles
Sygnatia, Glow, Submarine, Hampa Animation Studio

I Lost My Body
Xilam for Netflix

Okko’s Inn
Madhouse

Promare
Trigger, Xflag

Weathering With You
Toho Co., LTD. / Story Inc. / Comix Wave Films

Best Special Production

Guava Island, “Titles and Prologue”
Six Point Harness / Amazon

How to Train Your Dragon Homecoming
Dreamworks Animation

Infinity Train, “The Perennial Child”
Cartoon Network Studios

Spongebob Squarepants, “SpongeBob’s Big Birthday Blowout”
Nickelodeon and Jonas & Co.

Zog
Magic Light Pictures

Best Short Subject

Acid Rain
Tomek Popakul (Animoon)

Dont Know What
Thomas Renoldner

Je sors acheter des cigarettes
Osman Cerfon (Miyu Productions)

Purpleboy
Alexandre Siqueira (Bando à Parte, Rainbox Productions, Ambiances… asbl, Luna Blue Film)

Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days
Regina Pessoa (Ciclope Filmes, National Film Board of Canada, Les Armateurs)

Best VR

Bonfire
Baobab Studios

Gloomy Eyes
Atlas V

Kaiju Confidential
Shadowmachine

Best Commercial

Dove Self-Esteem Project x Steven Universe: “Social Media”
Cartoon Network/Dove/Chromosphere

Fortnite Season 7 Launch Spot
Epic Games/Screen Novelties/Iam8bit

The Mystical Journey of Jimmy Page’s ’59 Telecaster
Nexus Studios

Best TV/Media – Preschool

Ask the Storybots
Jibjab Bros. Studios for Netflix

Elena of Avalor
Disney Television Animation

Let’s Go Luna!
Brown Bag Films/9 Story Media Group

Norman Picklestripes
Factory

Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum
Brown Bag Films/9 Story Media Group

Best TV/Media – Children

Disney Mickey Mouse
Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel

Niko and the Sword of Light
Titmouse, Amazon Studios

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Nickelodeon Animation Studio

Tales of Arcadia: 3Below
Dreamworks Animation

The Tom and Jerry Show
Warner Bros. Animation

Best TV/Media – General Audience

Big Mouth
Netflix

Bojack Horseman
Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix

Harley Quinn
Warner Bros. Animation

Tuca & Bertie
Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix

Undone
Tornante Company and Amazon Studios

Best Student Film

Con Fuerza
Savannah College of Art and Design

Gravedad
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH Animationsinstitut

The Fox & The Pigeon
Sheridan College

Un diable dans la poche
Gobelins l’école de l’image

Best FX for TV/Media

How to Train Your Dragon Homecoming
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Manuel Reyes Halaby, Cristiana Covone, Koya Masubuchi, Jean Claude Nouchy, Dustin Henning

Love, Death & Robots
Blur for Netflix
Nominees: Viktor Németh, Szabolcs Illés, Ádám Sipos , Vladimir Zhovna

My Moon
Eusong Lee, Co-produced with Chromosphere
Nominees: Stéphane Coëdel, Natan Moura

Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures
Lucasfilm, Titmouse, Inc.
Nominees: Araiza Tokumasu Naoki

Tales of Arcadia: 3Below
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Greg Lev, Igor Lodeiro, Chen Ling, Brandon Tyra

Best FX for Feature

Abominable
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Amaury Aubel, James Jackson, Domin Lee, Michael Losure, Alex Timchenko

Frozen 2
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Nominees: Benjamin Fiske, Alex Moaveni, Jesse Erickson, Dimitre Berberov, Kee Nam Suong

Missing Link
Laura E Gross
Nominees: Eric Wachtman, David Horsley, Peter Stuart, Timu Khodzhaev, Joe Strasser

Toy Story 4
Pixar Animation Studios
Nominees: Alexis Angelidis, Amit Ganapati Baadkar, Greg Gladstone, Kylie Wijsmuller, Matthew Kiyoshi Wong

Weathering With You
GKIDS
Nominees: Hidetsugu Ito, Yuko Nakajima, Jumi Lee, Ryosuke Tsuda

Best Character Animation – TV/Media

Ask the Storybots
Jibjab Bros. Studios for Netflix
Nominees: Chris O’Hara

Disney Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure
Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel
Nominees: Juliane Martin

His Dark Materials
BBC Studios
Nominees: Aulo Licinio

How to Train Your Dragon Homecoming
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Andrew Muir

Robot Chicken
Stoopid Buddy Stoodios
Nominees: Scott DaRos

Best Character Animation – Animated Feature

Frozen 2
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Nominees: Andrew Ford

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Dane Stogner

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Rani Naamani

Klaus
Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine
Nominees: Sergio Martins

Missing Link
Laika, LLC
Nominees: Rachelle Lambden

Best Character Animation – Live Action

Alita: Battle Angel
Weta Digital
Nominees: Michael Cozens

Avengers: Endgame
Weta Digital
Nominees: Sidney Kombo-Kintombo

Game of Thrones – Season 8 Episode 3 “The Long Night” – Dance of the Dragons
Image Engine
Nominees: Jason Snyman, Sheik Ghafoor, Maia Neubig, Michael Siegel, Cheri Fojtik

Pokémon Detective Pikachu
Framestore
Nominees: Dale Newton, Waiyin Mendoza, Rochelle Flynn, Leila Gaed, Paul Jones

Spider-Man: Far From Home
Steven Argula
Nominees: Joakim Riedinger

Best Character Animation – Video Game

Gears 5
Cinematic AnimationThe Coalition/ Microsoft
Nominees: Brian Whitmire

Kingdom Hearts III
Square Enix
Nominees: Munenori Shinagawa, Kayoko Yajima, Koji Hamada, Koji Inoue

Sinclair Snake: Museum Mischief
Chromosphere / Within
Nominees: Tommy Rodricks, Natan Moura, Nelson Boles

Unruly Heroes
Magic Design Studios
Nominees: Sebastien Parodi, Nicolas Leger

Best Character Design – TV/Media

Carmen Sandiego
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing and DHX Media for Netflix
Nominees: Keiko Murayama

DC Super Hero Girls
Warner Bros. Animation
Nominees: Lauren Faust

T.O.T.S.
Titmouse/Disney Junior
Nominees: John Jagusak

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Chris Mitchell

Victor and Valentino
Cartoon Network Studios
Nominees: Fabien Mense

Best Character Design – Feature

Abominable
Dreamworks Animation/Pearl Studio
Nominees: Nico Marlet

Frozen 2
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Nominees: Bill Schwab

Klaus
Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine
Nominees: Torsten Schrank

Spies in Disguise
Blue Sky Studios
Nominees: José Manuel Fernández Oli

The Addams Family
MGM and Bron Creative
Nominees: Craig Kellman

Best Direction – TV/Media

Ask the Storybots
Jibjab Bros. Studios for Netflix
Nominees: Jeff Gill

DC Super Hero Girls
Warner Bros. Animation
Nominees: Natalie Wetzig

Disney Mickey Mouse
Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel
Nominees: Alonso Ramirez Ramos

Rilakkuma & Kaoru
Dwarf for Netflix
Nominees: Masahito Kobayashi

Ultraman
Production IG, SOLA Digital Arts for Netflix
Nominees: Kenji Kamiyama, Shinji Aramaki

Best Direction – Feature

Frozen 2
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Nominees: Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck

I Lost My Body
Xilam for Netflix
Nominees: Jérémy Clapin

Klaus
Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine
Nominees: Sergio Pablos

Missing Link
Laika, LLC
Nominees: Chris Butler

Weathering With You
Toho Co., Ltd./ Story Inc. /Comix Wave Films
Nominees: Makoto Shinkai

Best Music – TV/Media

Carmen Sandiego
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing and DHX Media for Netflix
Nominees: Jared Lee Gosselin, Steve D’Angelo, Lorenzo Castelli

Love, Death & Robots
Blur for Netflix
Nominees: Rob Cairns

Seis Manos
Viz Media/Powerhouse Animation Studios
Nominees: Carl Thiel

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Sunna Wehrmeijer

The Tom and Jerry Show
Warner Bros. Animation
Nominees: Vivek Maddala

Best Music – Feature

Away
Dream Well Studios
Nominees: Gints Zilbalodis

Frozen 2
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Nominees: Christophe Beck, Frode Fjellheim, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez

I Lost My Body
Xilam for Netflix
Nominees: Dan Levy

Spies in Disguise
Blue Sky Studios
Nominees: Mark Ronson, Theodore Shapiro

Toy Story 4
Pixar Animation Studios
Nominees: Randy Newman

Best Production Design – TV/Media

Carmen Sandiego
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing and DHX Media for Netflix
Nominees: Eastwood Wong, Sylvia Liu, Elaine Lee, Linda Fong, Emily Paik

Disney Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure
Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel
Nominees: Alan Bodner, Brian Woods, Steven Nicodemus, Laura Price, Leonard Robledo

Love, Death & Robots
Blur for Netflix
Nominees: Alberto Mielgo

Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart
Cartoon Network, Titmouse, Inc.
Nominees: Khang Le, Chris Fisher, Gael Bertrand, Deodato Pangandoyon, Howard Chen

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Chris Mitchell, Chris Turnham, Tor Aunet, DanBob Thompson, Aaron Spurgeon

Best Production Design – Feature

Abominable
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Max Boas, Paul Duncan, Christopher Brock, Cecline Da Hyeu Kim, Jane Li

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Pierre-Olivier Vincent, Kirsten Kawamura, Woonyoung Jung, Iuri Lioi

Klaus
Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine
Nominees: Szymon Biernaki, Marcin Jakubowski

Missing Link
Laika, LLC
Nominees: Nelson Lowry, Santiago Montiel, Trevor Dalmer

The Addams Family
MGM and Bron Creative
Nominees: Patricia Atchison, Maisha Moore, Chris Souza, Jack Yu

Best Storyboarding – TV/Media

Carmen Sandiego
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing and DHX Media for Netflix
Nominees: Kenny Park

Carole & Tuesday
Bones for Netflix
Nominees: Shinichiro Watanabe

Love, Death & Robots
Blur for Netflix
Nominees: Owen Sullivan

Snoopy in Space
Apple
Nominees: Riccardo Durante

Zog
Magic Light Pictures
Nominees: Max Lang

Best Storyboarding – Feature

I Lost My Body
Xilam for Netflix
Nominees: Julien Bisaro

I Lost My Body
Xilam for Netflix
Nominees: Jérémy Clapin

Klaus
Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine
Nominees: Sergio Pablos

Missing Link
Laika, LLC
Nominees: Julián Nariño

Missing Link
Laika, LLC
Nominees: Oliver Thomas

Best Voice Acting – TV/Media

Big City Greens
Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel
Nominees: Marieve Herington

Bob’s Burgers
20th Century Fox/Bento Box Entertainment
Nominees: H. Jon Benjamin

Steven Universe
Cartoon Network Studios
Nominees: Sarah Stiles

Tigtone
Titmouse, Inc., Babyhemyth Productions, Williams Street
Nominees: Debi Derryberry

Tuca & Bertie
Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix
Nominees: Ali Wong

Best Voice Acting – Feature

Abominable
Dreamworks Animation/Pearl Studio
Nominees: Tenzing Norgay Trainor

Frozen 2
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Nominees: Josh Gad

Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus
CJ Entertainment and Nickelodeon Animation Studios for Netflix
Nominees: Richard Horvitz

The Secret Life of Pets 2
Illumination
Nominees: Jenny Slate

Toy Story 4
Pixar Animation Studios
Nominees: Tony Hale

Best Writing – TV/Media

Apple & Onion
Cartoon Network Studios
Nominees: George Gendi, Michael Gendi, Deepak Sethi, Eric Acosta, Sean Szeles

Bojack Horseman
Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix
Nominees: Alison Tafel

Pinky Malinky
Nickelodeon Animation Studios for Netflix
Nominees: Sheela Shrinivas, Aminder Dhaliwal, Rikke Asbjoern

Tuca & Bertie
Tornante Productions, LLC for Netflix
Nominees: Shauna McGarry

Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum
Brown Bag Film/9 Story Media Group
Nominees: Meghan Read

Best Writing – Feature

Frozen 2
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Nominees: Jennifer Lee

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: Dean DeBlois

I Lost My Body
Xilam for Netflix
Nominees: Jérémy Clapin, Guillaume Laurant

Toy Story 4
Pixar Animation Studios
Nominees: Andrew Stanton, Stephany Folsom

Weathering With You
Toho Co., Ltd./ Story Inc./Comix Wave Films
Nominees: Makoto Shinkai

Best Editorial – TV/Media

Big Hero 6: The Series
Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel
Nominees: Dao Le, Joe Molinari, Charles T. Jones, David Vasquez

DC Super Hero Girls
Warner Bros. Animation
Nominees: Torien Blackwolf

Disney Mickey Mouse
Disney TV Animation/Disney Channel
Nominees: Tony Molina

Green Eggs and Ham
Warner Bros. Animation for Netflix
Nominees: Margaret Hou

Love, Death & Robots
Blur for Netflix
Nominees: Bo Juhl, Stacy Auckland, Valerian Zamel

Best Editorial – Feature

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Dreamworks Animation
Nominees: John K. Carr, Mark Hester, Mary Blee

Klaus
Netflix Presents A Production of The Spa Studios and Atresmedia Cine
Nominees: Pablo García Revert

Missing Link
Laika, LLC
Nominees: Stephen Perkins

The Secret Life of Pets 2
Illumination
Nominees: Tiffany Hillkurtz

Toy Story 4
Pixar Animation Studios
Nominees: Axel Geddes, Torbin Xan Bullock, Greg Snyder