Disney dominates the film categories, while Netflix leads TV categories
The Disney movies “Raya and the Last Dragon” and “Encanto” led all films in nominations for the 49th Annie Awards, which are given out by ASIFA-Hollywood to honor the best in animated entertainment. In something of a surprise, “Raya” led the field with 10 nominations, followed by “Encanto” with nine. Pixar’s “Luca” and Sony Animation/Netflix’s “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” each received eight nominations. In the Best Feature category, the nominees were “Encanto,” “Luca,” “Raya,” “The Mitchells” and Universal/Illumination’s “Sing 2,” which did not receive any other nominations. In the Best Indie Feature category, which usually supplies one or two Oscar nominees, Annies voters singled out “Belle,” “Flee,” “Future Favors,” “Pompo the Cinephile” and “The Summit of the Gods.” “Belle” received five total nominations and “Flee” received four, while the other three were nominated only in that category. Other films with multiple nominations were “Vivo,” with five, and “Ron’s Gone Wrong,” with two. The films that were nominated for best film, best director and best writing were “Belle,” “Flee,” “Luca” and “The Mitchells vs. the Machines.” Overall, Disney dominated the film nominations with 21 noms, plus eight more for its sister animation studio, Pixar. Two Sony Pictures Animation films distributed by Netflix received 13 nominations. In the TV categories, Netflix was by far the leading company, with “Arcane” leading all shows with nine nominations, followed by “Maya and the Three” with seven and “Love, Death + Robots” with five. The Annie Awards have been handed out since 1972, initially to give lifetime-achievement honors and then, beginning in 1992, to honor the best animated films of the year. In the 20 years since the Academy Awards created a category for animated features, more than 93% of the Oscar nominees in the category have first been nominated for Annie Awards in either the Best Feature or Best Indie Feature category. No film has ever won the Oscar without first being nominated for an Annie. At present, the Annie Awards are scheduled to take place at an in-person event on Saturday, Feb.26,2022 at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. The honorary awards to be presented during the show include the Winsor McCay Award to Disney animator Ruben Aquino, computer animation pioneer Lillian Schwartz and Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki; the June Foray Award to animators and Hiroshima International Animation Festival founders Renzo and Sayoko Kinoshita; the Ub Iwerks Award to the Python Foundation; the Special Achievement Award to artist and author Glen Vilppu; and the Certificate of Merit to Evan Vernon. Here is the complete list of nominations. Additional information, including the names of nominees and production and distribution companies in each category, can be found at www.annieawards.
