‘Zootopia’ Wins 6 Annie Awards, Including Best Animated Feature (Complete List of Winners & Analysis)

“I’ve been to several Annies and this by far is the fucking weirdest one ever,” said Zootopia co-director Rich Moore, as he accepted the Annie Award for directing an animated feature production.

It was one of six awards that Zootopia won at ASIFA-Hollywood’s 44th annual Annie Awards, which took place tonight at Royce Hall on campus of University of California, Los Angeles. The Disney film also won the top prize for animated feature, as well as recognition for best writing in an animated feature. In all, the Walt Disney Company won 11 out of the 31 awards that were voted on by ASIFA-Hollywood members.

Laika’s Kubo and the Two Strings managed three wins from ten nominations. Impressively, it included wins for character animation and production design in an animated feature, as well as editing, but with all the momentum Kubo had going into the Annies, the results can be seen as largely disappointing, especially compared to Zootopia’s haul.

Michael Dudok de Wit won the independent animated feature category for his co-production with Studio Ghibli, The Red Turtle. That win will give him a boost of recognition heading into the Oscars, where his film is one of the five nominees alongside Zootopia and Kubo.

On the television side, Bob’s Burger’s won for both general audience tv production and writing in an tv/broadcast production, but another significant winner was Dreamworks’ Trollhunters, which picked up three honors for character animation, character design, and storyboarding in a tv production.

The evening was easily the most political Annie Awards ever, with references opposing Trump’s immigration ban made by Jan Pinkava, who spoke while accepting for the Google Spotlight Stories team, the Spaniards at Headless who won character design for Trollhunters, voice actor Carlos Alazaraqui, and Pearl production designer Tuna Bora, among others. The most blunt political statement of the evening was uttered by writer Wendy Molyneux, while accepting an award with her sister for Bob’s Burger’s:

“I think it’s irresponsible if you’re a woman right now & have any kind of a platform not to tell Donald Trump to ‘Suck it!'”—W. Molyneux

— Cartoon Brew (@cartoonbrew) February 5, 2017

It was also refreshing to see greater diversity among the Annie winners tonight, something that was noticeable only because it has been missing so often in the past. Veteran animator Marlon West, an African-American artist, won his supervision of Moana’s effects animation, and among his effects leads was a woman artist, Erin V. Ramos. Also, four awards in tv/broadcast production—writing, production design, editing, and storyboarding—were won by woman as well.

The short film winners at the Annies tonight provide almost no clarity on the Oscar category. The winner for animated special production was Rob Valley’s one-man indie masterpiece Pear Cider and Cigarettes while Alan Barillaro’s Pixar short Piper won for animated short subject. But then, Patrick Osborne’s Google short Pearl picked up three important Annies, for best directing, music, and production design in a tv/broadcast production. So, three of the five Oscar nominees came up as big winners tonight.

A complete list of winners can be found below.

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

 

Best Animated Feature

• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Best Animated Feature – Independent

• The Red Turtle – Studio Ghibli – Wild Bunch – Why Not Productions

Best Animated Special Production

• Pear Cider and Cigarettes – Massive Swerve Studios and Passion Pictures Animation

Best Animated Short Subject

• Piper – Pixar Animation Studios

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Commercial

• Loteria ‘Night Shift’ – Passion Pictures Ltd

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children

• Tumble Leaf – Episode: Mighty Mud Movers / Having a Ball – Amazon Studios and Bix Pix Entertainment

Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Children

• Adventure Time – Episode: Bad Jubies – Bix Pix Entertainment Cartoon Network Frederator Studios

Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production

• Bob’s Burgers – Episode: Glued, Where’s My Bob? – Bento Box Entertainment

Best Student Film

• Citipati – Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg

 

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

 

Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in an Animated Production

• Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Head of Effects Animation: Marlon West, Effects Lead: Erin V. Ramos, Effects Lead: Blair Pierpont, Foundation Effects Lead: Ian J. Coony
  Effects Lead: John M. Kosnik

Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in a Live Action Production

• Dr. Strange – Mirror Dimension – Marvel Studios -FX Supervisor: Georg Kaltenbrunner, Digital Artist : Michael Marcuzzi, Digital Artist : Thomas Bevan, Digital Artist : Andrew Graham, Digital Artist: Jihyun Yoon

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• DreamWorks Trollhunters – Episode: Becoming, Part 1, DreamWorks Animation Television, Character Animator: Mike Chaffe Character: Blinky, Aaarrrgghh!!

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Feature Production

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Animator: Jan Maas Character: Multiple

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production

• The Jungle Book – Walt Disney Pictures – Animation Supervisor: Andrew R. Jones, Animation Supervisor: Peta Bayley, Animation Supervisor: Gabriele Zucchelli, Character Supervisor: Benjamin Jones

Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Video Game

• Uncharted 4: A Thief ‘s End – Naughty Dog – Lead Animator: Jeremy Yates Character: All, Lead Animator: Almudena Soria Character: All, Lead Animator: Eric Baldwin Character: All, Lead Animator: Paul Davies Character: All, Lead Animator: Tom Bland Character: All

Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• DreamWorks Trollhunters – Episode: Win, Lose or Draal – DreamWorks Animation Television – Character Designer: Victor Maldonado, Character: All Characters, Character Designer: Alfredo Torres, Character: All Characters, Character Designer: Jules Rigolle Character: All Characters

Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Character Design : Cory Loftis Character: Nick Wilde, Judy Hopps, Flash, Chief Bogo, Clawhauser, Mr. Big, Fru Fru, Koslov, Bellwether, Yax, Finnick, Doug, Mr. and Mrs. Otterton, Duke Weaselton, Misc. Characters

Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures – Director: Patrick Osborne

Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated Feature Production

• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Director: Byron Howard, Director: Rich Moore

Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures – Composer: Scot Stafford, Composer/Lyricist: Alexis Harte, Composer/Lyricist: JJ Wiesler

Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated Feature Production

• The Little Prince – Netflix and On Animation Studios – Composer: Hans Zimmer, Composer: Richard Harvey, Composer/Lyricist: Camille (no last name)

Outstanding Achievement, Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Pearl – Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures – Production Design: Tuna Bora

Outstanding Achievement, Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Production Design: Nelson Lowry, Production Design: Trevor Dalmer, Production Design: August Hall, Production Design: Ean McNamara

Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• DreamWorks Trollhunters – Episode: Win, Lose or Draal – DreamWorks Animation Television – Storyboard Artist: Hyunjoo Song

Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Storyboard Artist: Dean Wellins

Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show – Episode: Ponce de León – DreamWorks Animation Television – Cast: Carlos Alazaraqui Character: Ponce de León

Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production—TIE

• Moana – Walt Disney Animation Studios- Voice Actress: Auli’i Cravalho Character: Moana
• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Voice Actor: Jason Bateman Character: Nick Wilde

Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Bob’s Burgers – Episode: The Hormone-iums – Bento Box Entertainment – Writer: Lizzie Molyneux, Writer: Wendy Molyneux

Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated Feature Production

• Zootopia – Walt Disney Animation Studios – Writer: Jared Bush, Writer: Phil Johnston

Outstanding Achievement, Editorial in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

• Disney Mickey Mouse – Episode: Sock Burglar – Disney Television Animation – Nominee: Illya Owens

Outstanding Achievement, Editorial in an Animated Feature Production

• Kubo and the Two Strings – LAIKA – Nominee: Christopher Murrie

 

JURIED AWARDS

 

Winsor McCay Award – for their career contributions to the art of animation

• Dale Baer
• Caroline Leaf
• Mamoru Oshii

Ub Iwerks Award – for technical advancement in the art of animation

• Google Spotlight’s Virtual Reality Platform

Special Achievement Award

• Life, Animated

June Foray Award – for their significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation

• Bill & Sue Kroyer

Certificate of Merit

• Leslie Ezeh
• Gary Perkovac