Netflix’s “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” dominated the 49th annual Annie Awards on Saturday, winning eight awards to only three for Disney’s “Encanto.” While “Mitchells” from Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe has won more critics’ awards than “Encanto,” the Disney film has won virtually every Hollywood guild award and is the prohibitive favorite to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
“Mitchells” won in every one of the eight categories in which it was nominated at the Annie Awards, including Best Feature, Best Direction, Best Writing and Best Voice Acting (Abbi Jacobson). The three wins for “Encanto” – for character animation, music and storyboarding – came in categories in which “Mitchells” was not nominated.
Netflix won an additional 12 awards in the 13 TV categories, nine of them for “Arcane.” Overall, the company was nominated in 25 categories and won in 20 of those.
The result was reminiscent of Annie ceremonies in 2009 and 2011, when DreamWorks Animations’ “Kung Fu Panda” and “How to Train Your Dragon” won over Pixar’s Oscar-winning “WALL-E” and “Toy Story 3,” respectively, prompting charges that DWA was far more aggressive in signing up and paying for employees memberships in ASIFA-Hollywood, the group that votes for the Annies.
In the aftermath of those ceremonies, ASIFA tightened up the voting rules – but two years ago, Netflix’s “Klaus” won in all seven categories in which it was nominated over Disney’s “Toy Story 4,” which won the Oscar that year.
Overall, the Annie winner has gone on to win the Oscar for animation 14 times in the 20 years that both awards have existed.
The ceremony, which was delayed from its original Feb. 26 date because of the pandemic, took place virtually and was livestreamed for anyone who wanted to see it. It is now available for viewing on annieawards.org.
Here is the complete list of winners:
Best Feature: “The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
Best Indie Feature: “Flee”
Best Special Production: “Namoo”
Best Short Subject: “Bestia”
Best Sponsored: “A Future Begins”
Best TV/Media – Preschool: “Ada Twist, Scientist”
Episode: “Twelve Angry Birds”
Best TV/Media – Children: “Maya and the Three”
Episode: “The Sun and the Moon”
Best TV/Media – General Audience: “Arcane”
Episode: “When These Walls Come Tumbling Down”
Best Student Film: “Night of the Living Dread”
Student director: Ida Melum
Student producer: Danielle Goff
Best FX – TV/Media: “Arcane”
FX Team: Guillaume Degroote, Aurelien Ressencourt, Martin Touze, Frederic Mace, Jerome Dupre
Episode: “Oil and Water”
Best FX – Feature: “The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
FX Team: Christopher Logan, Man-Louk Chin, Devdatta Nerurkar, Pav Grochola, Filippo Maccari
Best Character Animation – TV/Media: “Arcane”
Animator: Lea Chervet
Episode: “The Monster You Created”
Best Character Animation – Feature: “Encanto”
Animator: Dave Hardin
Best Character Animation – Live Action: “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”
Animation Team: Karl Rapley, Sebastian Trujillo, Richard John Moore, Merlin Bela Wassilij Maertz, Pascal Raimbault
Best Character Animation – Video Game: “Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart”
Animation Team: Insomniac Games Animation Team
Best Character Design – TV/Media: “Arcane”
Designer: Evan Monteiro
Episode: “Some Mysteries Better Left Unsolved”
Best Character Design – Feature: “The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
Designer: Lindsey Olivares
Best Direction – TV/Media: “Arcane”
Directors: Pascal Charue, Arnaud Delord, Barthelemy Maunoury
Episode: “The Monster You Created”
Best Direction – Feature: “The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
Directors: Mike Rianda, Jeff Rowe
Best Music – TV/Media: “Maya and the Three”
Score: Tim Davies, Gustavo Santaolalla
Episode: “The Sun and the Moon”
Best Music – Feature: “Encanto”
Score: Germaine Franco, Lin-Manuel Miranda
Best Production Design – TV/Media: “Arcane”
Design Team: Julien Georgel, Aymeric Kevin, Arnaud Baudry
Episode: “Happy Progress Day!”
Best Production Design – Feature: “The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
DesignTeam: Lindsey Olivares, Toby Wilson, Dave Bleich
Best Storyboarding – TV/Media: “Arcane”
Storyboard Artist: Simon Andriveau
Episode: “When These Walls Come Tumbling Down”
Best Storyboarding – Feature: “Encanto”
Storyboard Artist: Jason Hand
Best Voice Acting – TV/Media: “Arcane”
As ‘Jinx’: Ella Purnell
Episode: “When These Walls Come Tumbling Down”
Best Voice Acting – Feature: “The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
As ‘Katie Mitchell’: Abbi Jacobson
Best Writing – TV/Media: “Arcane”
Writers: Christian Linke, Alex Yee
Episode: “The Monster You Created”
Best Writing – Feature: “The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
Writers: Mike Rianda, Jeff Rowe
Best Editorial – TV/Media: “What If…?”
Editorial Team: Joel Fisher, Graham Fisher, Sharia Davis, Basuki Juwono, Adam Spieckermann
Episode: “What If…Ultron Won?”
Best Editorial – Feature: “The Mitchells vs. The Machines”
Editorial Team: Greg Levitan, Collin Wightman, T.J. Young, Tony Ferdinand, Bret Allen