51st Annie Award Nominations: Netflix’s ‘Nimona’ Leads, Walt Disney and Pixar Shut Out of Feature for First Time Ever
For the first time in the 51 years of the Annie Awards, which recognize animated films, Walt Disney and Pixar were not represented in the group’s top category of Best Feature.
Netflix‘s Nimona, a story about a knight in a futuristic medieval world is framed for a crime he didn’t commit, the only one who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona — a mischievous teen who happens to be a shapeshifting creature he’s sworn to destroy, led the features category of the 51st Annie Awards nominations with nine, including best feature, director, character animation, character design, production design, storyboarding, voice acting, writing and editorial.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Boy and the Heron have shared critics wins almost equally this season until the latter won the Golden Globe last weekend for Best Animated Feature. Both films picked up seven Annie nominations, along with Suzume. Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Pixar’s Elemental followed with six each and Robot Dreams, a nominees in the best independent category, scored five.
In the voice acting category, several top films were left out, including Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Boy and the Heron, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Elemental. The nominees there were David Hornsby for Merry Little Batman (Character: Joker), Tresi Gazal for Migration (Character: Gwen), Chloë Grace Moretz for Nimona (Character: Nimona), Hokuto Matsumura for Suzume (Character: Souta Munakata) and Jack Black for The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Character: Bowser).
Joining Arcadia Motion Pictures’ Robot Dreams in the independent feature race are Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia from Folivari, Mélusine Productions, Studio Canal and distributed by GKIDS; Cinemon Entertainment’s Four Souls of Coyote; Curiosity Studios’ The Inventor and White Plastic Sky from Salto Films & Artichoke.
Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai led the field in the TV/media categories, picking up seven nominations. It was followed closely by Disney TV Animation’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: Visions with six each, Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire (Triggerfish Animation for Disney+) with five, and What If… from Disney+ and Max’s Scavengers Reign with four each.
Juried awards will also be handed out by ASIFA-Hollywood, the organization behind the Annies, “honoring exemplary contributions to the animation industry.” The Winsor McCay Award for lifetime or career achievement will go to the late animator and director Charlotte “Lotte” Reiniger, longtime Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi – who is nominated for his score for The Boy and the Heron – and National Film Board animator and producer Marcy Page. The BRIC Foundation, co-founded by Alison Mann and Nicole Hendrix, will receive the June Foray Award for charitable impact for its work to boost representation across the entertainment, gaming, media and tech industries. The late animation pioneer John Oxberry will receive the Ub Iwerks Award for technical achievement and a Special Achievement Award will be presented to the artists of Walt Disney Animation. The Special Achievement Award is given to honor unique and outstanding work not recognized within the existing award category structure.
Netflix movies and series absolutely dominated the overall animation nominations total with 28. The nearest competitors were Disney with eight, Pixar and Lucasfilm with seven each and DreamWorks Animation and Apple with five apiece.
The 51st annual Annie Awards will be held on Saturday, February 17, at UCLA’s Royce Hall. A pre-show reception will begin at 4:30pm, followed by the ceremony at 7pm.
Here is the complete list of nominations.
BEST FEATURE
Nimona, Annapurna Animation for Netflix
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Sony Pictures Animation
Suzume, CoMix Wave Films Inc. and STORY Inc.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies
The Boy and the Heron, Studio Ghibli/Distributed by GKIDS
BEST FEATURE-INDEPENDENT
Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia, Folivari, Mélusine Productions, Studio Canal/Distributed by GKIDS
Four Souls of Coyote, Cinemon Entertainment
Robot Dreams, Arcadia Motion Pictures
The Inventor, Curiosity Studios
White Plastic Sky, Salto Films & Artichoke
BEST SPECIAL PRODUCTION
Invincible: Atom Eve, Amazon MGM Studios, Skybound Entertainment
Shape Island: The Winter Blues, Bix Pix Entertainment in association with Apple
Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie, WildBrain Studios in association with Apple
The Smeds and The Smoos, Magic Light Pictures
The Velveteen Rabbit, Magic Light Pictures in association with Apple
BEST SHORT SUBJECT
Carne de Dios, Ojo Raro & Fedora Productions
Daffy in Wackyland, Warner Bros. Animation
HUMO, Outik Animation, 3rd Street Video, Mindsoup Entertainment, IMCINE
PINA, Punchline Cinema/Next Days Films
WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko, ElectroLeague
BEST SPONSORED
Video Games by Tenacious D, Pinreel Inc.
Alzheimer’s Research UK ‘Change The Ending,’ Passion Pictures
Laugh Track – The National (featuring Phoebe Bridgers), Bernard Derriman
Up in Smoke, Nomint
BEST TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOL
Batwheels,Episode: To the Batmobile!, Warner Bros. Animation
Ghee Happy, Episode: Navagraha, Ghee Happy Studio
Playdate with Winnie the Pooh, Episode: Piglet, Tigger and the Cardboard Box, Oddbot Inc.
StoryBots: Answer Time, Episode: Fractions, JibJab Bros. Studios for Netflix
The Creature Cases, Episode: The Forest Food Bandit, Silvergate Media/Team TO/Choice/Provisions/Netflix
BEST TV/MEDIA – CHILDREN
CURSES!, Episode: The Baboon Temple, DreamWorks Animation
Hilda, Episode: Chapter 8: The Fairy Isle, Hilda Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media Company, Netflix Inc. and Mercury Filmworks
Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Episode: The Beyonder, Flying Bark Productions/Disney Television Animation
My Dad the Bounty Hunter, Episode: Bizarre Ride, A Netflix Series
Shape Island, Episode: 105B Square’s Special Place, Bix Pix Entertainment in association with Apple
BEST TV/MEDIA – MATURE
Big Mouth, Episode: The International Show, Netflix
Blue Eye Samurai, Episode: Pilot: Hammerscale, A Netflix Series/3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions
Bob’s Burgers, Episode: Amelia, 20th Television Animation
Scavengers Reign, Episode: The Signal, Max in association with Titmouse Animation and Green Street
Tomato Kitchen, Episode: Special Production, Bilibili / Studio Reflection
BEST TV/MEDIA – LIMITED SERIES
Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, Episode: Enkai, Triggerfish Animation Studio & Blinkink
Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection, Episode: Yellowbird, Afterman production in association with Max/Warner Bros. Discovery
Pokémon: Path to the Peak, Episode: 1, The Pokémon Company International
BEST STUDENT FILM
From The Top; Student Director: Rich Farris, Student Producer: Martina Buendia Silva, School: National Film and Television School
Kolaj; Student Director: Besen Dilek, Student Producer: Besen Dilek, School: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH
La quête de l’humain; Student Team: Mélina Ienco, Lucie JURIC, Caroline Leibel, Faustine MERLE, Claire Pellet, School: Gobelins, l’école de l’image
Quem Salva; Student Team: Laure Devin, Maxime Bourstin, Nathan Medam, Charles Hechinger and Titouan Jaouen, School: Supinfocom Rubika
The Little Poet; Student Director: Justine King, Student Producer: Justine King, School: California Institute of the Arts
BEST FX – TV/MEDIA
Blue Eye Samurai, Episode: All Evil Dreams and Angry Words; Production Company: A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions; FX Production Company: Blue Spirit; Thomas Decaens, Karl Burtin, Laurent Bretonniere
Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, Episode: Moremi; Production Company: Triggerfish for Disney+; FX Production Company: Lucan Matthew Dunwoody, Dmitry Sarkisov, Podchasha Yuri Anatolyevich, Richard Bothma, Emile Van Straaten
Star Wars: Visions, Episode: Sith; Production Company: Lucasfilm Ltd.; FX Production Company: El Guiri Studios; Jonatan Catalán, Alberto Sánchez, Phoebe Arjona, Virginia Cantaro, Rubén Hinarejos
The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday, Episode: The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday; Production Company: DreamWorks Animation; FX Production Company: DreamWorks Animation and 88 Pictures; Sateesh Malla, Russell Richardson Jr., Akash Gopal, Basavaraj P, Kevin Rumold
What If…?, Episode 206 “What If…Kahhori Reshaped the World?” Episode: 206; Production Company: Marvel Studios; FX Production Company: SDFX Studios; Ryan Barringer, Rajkumar Gurudu, Bipin Kumar Patra, Pranil Ravindra Mahajan
BEST FX – FEATURE
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget; Production Company: Netflix Presents An Aardman Production; FX Production Company: Aardman Production; Charles Copping, Jon Biggins, Jim Lewis, Rich Spence, Martin Lipmann
Elemental; Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios; FX Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios; Chris Chapman, Tim Speltz, Krzysztof Rost, Amit Baadkar, Ravindra Dwivedi
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Production Company: Sony Pictures Animation; FX Production Company: Sony Pictures Imageworks; Pav Grochola, Filippo Maccari, Naoki Kato, Nicola Finizio, Edmond Boulet-Gilly
Suzume; Production Company: CoMix Wave Films Inc. and Story Inc.; FX Production Company: CoMix Wave Films Inc. and Story Inc.; Yoshitaka Takeuchi, Hiroyuki Seshita
The Peasants; Production Company: Breakthru Films; FX Production Company: Breakthru Productions; Lukasz Mackiewicz, Kamil Polak
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV/MEDIA
Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake, Episode: The Winter King; Cartoon Network Studios; Alex Small-Butera
Blue Eye Samurai, Episode: Episodes 101, 104 and 106; A Netflix Series/3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions; Alex Bard
Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, Episode: Moremi, Surf Sangoma, Stardust; Triggerfish Animation for Disney+; Andre DeVilliers
Star Wars: Visions, Episode: I Am Your Mother; Lucasfilm Ltd.; Laurie Sitzia
The Amazing Digital Circus: Pilot, Episode: 1; Glitch Productions; Kevin Temmer
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE
Elemental, Pixar Animation Studios, Jessica Torres
Nimona, Annapurna Animation for Netflix, Toby Seale
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, DreamWorks Animation, Prashanth Cavale
Suzume, CoMix Wave Films Inc. and Story Inc., Kenichi Tsuchiya
The Boy and the Heron, Studio Ghibli/Distributed by GKIDS, Takeshi Honda
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION
Ahsoka; Production Company: Lucasfilm; FX Production Company: Industrial Light & Magic; Rick O’Connor, Mike Beaulieu, Stewart Alves, Kevin Reuter, Wai Kit Wan
Cocaine Bear; Production Company: Wētā FX; FX Production Company: Wētā FX; Carmelo Leggiero, Steve Braggs, Kevin Kelm, Cedric Enriquez Canlas, Kane Elferink
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; Production Company: Marvel Studios; FX Production Company: Framestore; Fernando Herrera, Chris Hurtt, Nathan McConnel, Daniel Cabral, Chris McGaw
The Little Mermaid; Production Company: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; FX Production Company: Framestore; Pablo Grillo, Kayn Garcia, Ferran Casas, Stuart Ellis, Joseph Lewis
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts; Production Company: Wētā FX; FX Production Company: Wētā FX; Kevin Estey, Kai-Hua Lan, Blaine Toderian Toderian, Richard John Moore, Joseph C.K Leong
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAME
Atomic Heart; Mundfish; Mundfish Animation Team
Hogwarts Legacy; Avalanche Software; Tara Edwards
Let’s! Revolution!; Buck; Buck Animation Team
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2; Insomniac Games; Insomniac Games Animation Team
Teslagrad 2; Rain Games; Aslak Helgesen
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIA
Clone High, Episode: Let’s Try This Again; Max in association with Lord Miller, Doozer, ShadowMachine, and MTV Entertainment; Tara Billinger
Jessica’s Big Little World, Episode: Bedtime Routine; Cartoon Network Studios; Nick Winn
Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, Episode: You Give Me Heart; Triggerfish for Disney+; Lesego Vorester
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Episode: 515M-106 (The Beyonder); Disney Television Animation/Cinema Gypsy Productions; Jose Lopez
Spirit Rangers, Episode: Water Protectors; Laughing Wild/Netflix; Marie Delmas
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE
Elemental; Pixar Animation Studios; Maria Yi
Merry Little Batman; Amazon MGM Studios, Warner Bros. Animation, DC Entertainment; Nikolas Ilic
Nimona; Annapurna Animation for Netflix; Aidan Sugano
Robot Dreams; Arcadia Motion Pictures; Daniel Fernandez Casas
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Sony Pictures Animation; Jesús Alonso Iglesias
BEST DIRECTION – TV/MEDIA
Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, Episode: Moremi; Triggerfish Animation Studio & Lucan Studio; Shofela Coker, Andrew McNally
My Dad the Bounty Hunter, Episode: Bizarre Ride; A Netflix Series; Kenji Ono, Kai Akira, Patrick Harpin
Pokémon Concierge, Episode: #2 What’s on Your Mind, Psyduck?; Dwarf Studios for Netflix; Iku Ogawa
Scavengers Reign, Episode: The Fall; Max in association with Titmouse Animation and Green Street; Diego Porral
Star Wars: Visions, Episode: Screecher’s Reach; Lucasfilm Ltd.; Paul Young
BEST DIRECTION – FEATURE
Nimona; Annapurna Animation for Netflix; Nick Bruno, Troy Quane
Robot Dreams; Arcadia Motion Pictures; Pablo Berger, Benoît Feroumont
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Sony Pictures Animation; Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies; Jeff Rowe, Kyler Spears
The Boy and the Heron; Studio Ghibli/Distributed by GKIDS; Hayao Miyazaki
BEST MUSIC – TV/MEDIA
Animaniacs, Episode: Talladega Mice; Warner Brothers Animation/Amblin Entertainment/HULU Originals; Steven Bernstein, Julie Bernstein
Babylon 5: The Road Home, Special Production; Warner Bros. Animation; Michael McCuistion, Kristopher Carter, Lolita Ritmanis
Pacemaker, Short Film; A Running Commentary; Christopher Lennertz
Star Wars: Visions, Episode: Aau’s Song; Lucasfilm Ltd.; Markus Wormstorm, Nadia Darries, Dineo du Toit
The Smeds and The Smoos, Special Production; Magic Light Pictures; René Aubry
BEST MUSIC – FEATURE
Elemental; Pixar Animation Studios; Thomas Newman, Ari “Laiv” Leff
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Sony Pictures Animation; Daniel Pemberton, Metro Boomin
Suzume; CoMix Wave Films Inc. and Story Inc.; Kazuma Jinnouchi, Radwimps
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies; Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
The Boy and the Heron; Studio Ghibli/Distributed by GKIDS; Joe Hisaishi
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIA
Blue Eye Samurai, Episode: Hammerscale; Netflix Animation; Jason Scheier
Blue Eye Samurai, Episode: The Great Fire of 1657; A Netflix Series/3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions; Toby Wilson, James Wilson, Emil Mitev
Scavengers Reign, Episode: The Storm; Max in association with Titmouse Animation and Green Street; Charles Huettner, Jonathan Djob Nkondo, Pauline Mauvière, Hugo Moreno, Jon Juarez
Star Wars: Visions, Episode: Sith; Lucasfilm Ltd.; Carlos Salgado
What If…?, Episode: What If… Nebula Joined the Nova Corps?; Marvel Studios; Paul Lasaine, Kristina Vardazaryan, Cynthia Halley, Ryan Magno, Simon Dunsdon
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE
Elemental; Pixar Animation Studios; Don Shank, Maria Yi, Dan Holland, Jennifer Chang, Laura Meyer
Nimona; Annapurna Animation for Netflix; Aidan Sugano, Jeff Turley
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Sony Pictures Animation; Patrick O’Keefe, Dean Gordon
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies; Yashar Kassai, Arthur, Tiffany Lam
The Boy and the Heron; Studio Ghibli/Distributed by GKIDS; Yoji Takeshige
BEST STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIA
Craig Before The Creek, Episode: Craig Before The Creek; Cartoon Network Studios; Erik Fountain
Fright Krewe, Episode: The Blood Awakening, Part 1; DreamWorks Animation; Leah Artwick
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, Episode: Never Give Up; Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Television; Kristine Lee
Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, Episode: Apok-ta-pokalypse Now, Part II; DreamWorks Animation; Grace Liu
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Episode: 515M-107 “Run the Rink”; Disney Television Animation/Cinema Gypsy Productions; Ben Juwono
BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATURE
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget; Netflix Presents An Aardman Production; Richard Phelan
Nimona; Annapurna Animation for Netflix; Esteban Bravo
Robot Dreams; Arcadia Motion Pictures; Maca Gil
Suzume; CoMix Wave Films Inc. and Story Inc.; Makoto Shinkai
The Boy and the Heron; Studio Ghibli/Distributed by GKIDS; Hayao Miyazaki
BEST VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIA
Archer, Episode: Keys Open Doors; FX Productions; Aisha Tyler (Character: Lana Kane)
Craig Before The Creek, Episode: Craig Before The Creek; Cartoon Network Studios; Vico Ortiz (Character: Serena)
Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Episode: Moon Girl Landing; Flying Bark Productions/Disney Television Animation; Diamond White (Character: Lunella Lafayette/Moon Girl)
Solar Opposites, Episode: The Re-Visibility Bouillabaisse; 20th Television Animation; Dan Stevens (Character: Korvo)
The Velveteen Rabbit, Episode: The Velveteen Rabbit; Magic Light Pictures in association with Apple; Alex Lawther (Character: Velveteen Rabbit)
BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE
Merry Little Batman; Amazon MGM Studios, Warner Bros. Animation, DC Entertainment; David Hornsby (Character: Joker)
Migration; Illumination; Tresi Gazal (Character: Gwen)
Nimona; Annapurna Animation for Netflix; Chloë Grace Moretz (Character: Nimona)
Suzume; CoMix Wave Films Inc. and Story Inc.; Hokuto Matsumura (Character: Souta Munakata)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie; Illumination; Jack Black (Character: Bowser)
BEST WRITING – TV/MEDIA
Blue Eye Samurai, Episode: Episode 105: The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride; A Netflix Series/3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions; Amber Noizumi
Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection, Episode: Yellowbird; Afterman production in association with Max/Warner Bros. Discovery; Tsvetelina Zdraveva, Jerred North
Rock Paper Scissors, Episode: Birthday Police; Nickelodeon Animation Studios; Josh Lehrman, Kyle Stegina, Aram Spencer Porter, Julia Prescott, Mike Trapp
Rosie’s Rules, Episode: Time Trouble; 9 Story Media Group, Brown Bag Films; Leyani Diaz, Maria Escobedo
Scavengers Reign, Episode: The Reunion; Max in association with Titmouse Animation and Green Street; Sean Buckelew
BEST WRITING – FEATURE
Nimona; Annapurna Animation for Netflix; Robert L. Baird, Lloyd Taylor
Robot Dreams; Arcadia Motion Pictures; Pablo Berger
Suzume; CoMix Wave Films Inc. and Story Inc.; Makoto Shinkai
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies; Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jeff Rowe, Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit
The Boy and the Heron; Studio Ghibli/Distributed by GKIDS; Hayao Miyazaki
BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA
Blue Eye Samurai, Episode: Episode 105: The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride; A Netflix Series/3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions; Yuka Shirasuna
Hilda, Episode: Chapter 6: The Forgotten Lake; Hilda Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media Company, Netflix Inc. and Mercury Filmworks; John Mckinnon, Mike Stefanelli
I Am Groot, Episode: Groot’s Snow Day; Marvel Studios; Dan Urrutia
Star Wars: Visions, Episode: Screecher’s Reach; Lucasfilm Ltd.; Richie Cody, ACE, BFE
The Legend of Vox Machina, Episode: The Sunken Tomb; Amazon MGM Studios, Critical Role Productions, Titmouse; Todd Raleigh
BEST EDITORIAL – FEATURE
Elemental; Pixar Animation Studios; Stephen Schaffer, Amera Rizk, Gregory Snyder, Jen Jew, Kevin Rose-Williams
Leo; Happy Madison for Netflix; Patrick Voetberg, Joseph Titone, Darrian M. James, Danny Miller, Brian Robinson
Nimona; Annapurna Animation for Netflix; Randy Trager, Erin Crackel, Stephen Schwartz, Ashley Calle
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Sony Pictures Animation; Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Editorial Team
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies; Greg Levitan, Illya Quinteros, David Croomes, Myra Owyang
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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