The 44th annual Annie Awards honoring the year’s best in animated film and television saw “Zootopia” beat out “Kubo and the Two Strings,” “Finding Dory,” “Moana” and “Kung Fu Panda 3” for Best Animated Feature. Rich Moore and Byron Howard also took Best Director for the film, an allegory for racism using the animal kingdom in a modern city.
“Zootopia” male lead, Jason Bateman, tied for best voice performance for his role as a smooth-talking fox. He shares the prize with 15-year-old breakout and Disney co-worker Auli’i Cravalho of “Moana.”
In the 15 years that the Oscars Best Animated Feature category has existed, the film that won the Oscar has also won the top Annie Award 10 times.
The Annie Awards are presented by the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood. They presented awards in 36 categories: nine program awards for overall achievement, 22 awards for individual achievement in specific areas, and five juried awards.
The juried awards went to Dale Baer, Caroline Leaf and Mamoru Oshii for career achievement, Bill and Sue Kroyer for significant charitable impact and Google Spotlight’s Virtual Reality Platform for technical advancement. A special award went to the documentary “Life, Animated” and certificates of merit were awarded to Leslie Ezeh and Gary Perkovac.
The full list of winners:
Best Animated Feature
“Zootopia,” Walt Disney Animation
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
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
Animated Effects in a Live Action Production
“Doctor Strange,” Marvel, Mirror Dimension; FX Supervisor: Georg Kaltenbrunner; Digital Artist : Michael Marcuzzi; Digital Artist : Thomas Bevan; Digital Artist: Andrew Graham; Digital Artist: Jihyun Yoon
Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
“DreamWorks Trollhunters,” Episode: Becoming, Part 1, DreamWorks Animation Television; Character Animator: Mike Chaffe; Characters: Blinky, Aaarrrgghh!!
Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production
“Kubo and the Two Strings” Laika; Animator: Jan Maas; Characters: Multiple
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
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; Witcher 3 Expansion Packs – Character Animation Reel; CDProjekt Red Lead Animator: Sebastian Kalemba; Character: Directing role
Character Design in an Animated Television/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
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
“Zootopia,” Walt Disney Animation Studios; Character Design : Cory Loftis, Characters: 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
Directing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
“Pearl,” Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures; Director: Patrick Osborne
Directing in an Animated Feature Production
“Zootopia,” Walt Disney Animation Studios; Director: Byron Howard; Director: Rich Moore
Music in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
“Pearl,” Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures; Composer: Scot Stafford; Composer/Lyricist: Alexis Harte; Composer/Lyricist: JJ Wiesler
Music in an Animated Feature Production
“The Little Prince,” Netflix and On Animation Studios; Composer: Hans Zimmer; Composer: Richard Harvey; Composer/Lyricist: Camille
Production Design in an Animated Television Broadcast Production
“Pearl,” Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures; Production Design: Tuna Bora
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
Storyboarding in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
“DreamWorks Trollhunters,” Episode: Win, Lose or Draal, DreamWorks Animation Television
Storyboard Artist: Hyunjoo Song
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
“Zootopia,” Walt Disney Animation Studios; Storyboard Artist: Dean Wellins
Voice Acting in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
“The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show,” Episode: Ponce de León; DreamWorks Animation Television; Carlos Alazraqui as Ponce de León
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
TIE:
“Moana,” Walt Disney Animation Studios; Auli’i Cravalho as Moana
“Zootopia,” Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde
Writing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
“Bob’s Burgers,” Episode: The Hormone-iums, Bento Box Entertainment; Writer: Lizzie Molyneux; Writer: Wendy Molyneux
Writing in an Animated Feature Production
“Zootopia,” Walt Disney Animation Studios; Writer: Jared Bush; Writer: Phil Johnston
Editorial in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
“Disney Mickey Mouse,” Episode: Sock Burglar, Disney Television Animation; Illya Owens
Editorial in an Animated Feature Production
“Kubo and the Two Strings,” Laika, Christopher Murrie
Winsor McCay Awards
Dale Baer, Caroline Leaf and Mamoru Oshii
June Foray Award
Bill and Sue Kroyer
Ub Iwerks Award
Google Spotlight’s Virtual Reality Platform
Special Achievement Award
“Life, Animated”
Certificates of Merit
Leslie Ezeh and Gary Perkovac