“The Wild Robot” ran away with nine wins at the 52nd annual Annie Awards on February 8 at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The DreamWorks robot survival adventure took Best Feature along with nearly ever other category (it was not nominated for Best Writing and Best Storyboarding).
“The Wild Robot” additionally claimed Best Direction (for Chris Sanders, who was spotlighted at IndieWire Honors), Best Production Design, Best Character Design, Best Character Animation, Best FX, Best Music (Oscar-nominated composer Kris Bowers), Best Voice Acting (Lupita Nyong’o as Roz), and Best Editorial.
Meanwhile, “Flow,” the low-budget cat survival adventure, grabbed Best Independent Feature and Best Writing for writer-director Gints Zilbalodis.
This sets up a dramatic finish to the Oscar race between “The Wild Robot,” the favorite, and “Flow,” the underdog, which is on a roll of its own after the Golden Globes triumph. This followed the animation prizes from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review, and the European Film Awards.
“Flow” was also the Latvian Oscar submission for Best International Feature and landed a nomination, which could be significant. While “The Wild Robot” obviously received strong industry support from ASIFA-Hollywood members at the Annies, the Academy’s influential international voter base could put “Flow” over the top, as it did last year with Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron,” which beat the heavily favored “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Other Annie highlights: Season 2 of Riot/Netflix’s “Arcane” took home seven TV/Media awards for Best Direction, Best Production Design, Best Character Animation, Best FX, Best Music, Best Storyboarding, and Best Editorial.
Other notable winners were Oscar favorite “Wander to Wonder” (Best Short), 20th’s “Bob’s Burgers” (Best Mature TV/Media), Pixar’s “Dream Productions” (Best Limited Series TV/Media), DreamWorks’ “Orion and the Dark” (Best Special Production), and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (Best Live Action Character Animation, from Wētā FX).
Here are the previously announced Juried Awards: The Winsor McCay Awards went to “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin” animator Aaron Blaise, Academy-Award winning British animator Eunice Macaulay (the Oscar-winning short “Special Delivery”), receiving posthumous recognition, and Canadian composer, sound designer, and sound editor Normand Roger (the Oscar-winning short “Father and Daughter”). This year’s June Foray Award was collectively awarded to Women in Animation, while the Ub Iwerks Award went to Alberto Menache for his work in visual effects (2002’s “Spider-Man). Finally, animation historian Don Peri and Pixar director/chief creative officer Pete Docter received the Special Achievement Award for their work on “Directing at Disney: The Original Directors of Walt’s Animated Films.”
Read the complete list of Annie winners below:
Best Feature
The Wild Robot
DreamWorks Animation
Best Feature – Independent
Flow
Sacrebleu Productions, Take Five, Dream Well Studio
Best Special Production
Orion and the Dark
DreamWorks Animation
Best Short Subject
Wander to Wonder
Circe Films, Kaap Holland Film, Les Productions de Milou, Beast Animation, Blink Industries &
Pictanovo
Best Sponsored
Fuzzy Feelings
Passion Pictures Hungry Man
Best TV/Media – Preschool
The Tiny Chef Show
Imagine Entertainment, Tiny Chef Productions and Nickelodeon Productions Episode: Tiny
Chef’s Spooky Stump Spectacular
Best TV/Media – Children
Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur – “The Molecular Level”
Flying Bark Productions, Disney Television Animation, Disney Branded Television, Cinema Gypsy
Best TV/Media – Mature
Bob’s Burgers – “They Slug Horses, Don’t They?”
20th Television Animation / FOX Entertainment
Best TV/Media – Limited Series
Dream Productions – “A Night to Remember”
Pixar Animation Studios
Best Student Film
Adiós
National Film and Television School
José Prats, Bernardo Angeletti
Best FX – Feature
The Wild Robot
Derek Cheung, Michael Losure, David Chow, Nyoung Kim, Steve Avoujageli
DreamWorks Animation
Best FX – TV/Media
Arcane – “The Dirt Under Your Nails”
Guillaume Degroote, Aurélien Ressencourt, Adam Bachiri, Guillaume Zaouche, Jérôme Dupré
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Best Character Animation – Feature
The Wild Robot
Fabio Lignini
DreamWorks Animation
Best Character Animation – TV/Media
Arcane
Tom Gouill
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Best Character Animation – Live Action
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Christian Kickenweitz, Aidan Martin, Allison Orr, Radiya Alam, Howard Sly
Weta FX
Best Character Animation – Video Game
Neva
Nomada Studio Animation Team
Nomada Studio
Best Character Design – Feature
The Wild Robot
Genevieve Tsai
DreamWorks Animation
Best Character Design – TV/Media
Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur – “The Molecular Level”
Jose Lopez
Disney Television Animation, Cinema Gypsy Productions
Best Direction – Feature
The Wild Robot
Chris Sanders
DreamWorks Animation
Best Direction – TV/Media
Arcane – The Dirt Under Your Nails
Arnaud Delord, Pascal Charrue, Bart Maunoury
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Best Music – Feature
The Wild Robot
Kris Bowers
DreamWorks Animation
Best Music – TV/Media
Arcane – “The Dirt Under Your Nails”
Ryan Jillian Santiago, Alexander Seaver, Simon Wilcox
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Best Production Design – Feature
The Wild Robot
Raymond Zibach, Ritchie Sacilioc
DreamWorks Animation
Best Production Design – TV/Media
Arcane – “The Dirt Under Your Nails”
Arnaud-Loris Baudry, Julien Georgel, Faustine Dumontier, Charlotte O’Neill
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Best Storyboarding – Feature
Despicable Me 4
Habib Louati
Illumination
Best Storyboarding – TV/Media
Arcane – “Killing is a Cycle”
Joséphine Meis
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Best Voice Acting – Feature
The Wild Robot
Lupita Nyong’o as Roz
DreamWorks Animation
Best Voice Acting – TV/Media
Dream Productions – “Out of Body”
Paula Pell as Paula
Pixar Animation Studios
Best Writing – Feature
Flow
Gints Zilbalodis, Matiss Kaža
Take Five, Sacrebleu Productions, Dream Well Studio
Best Writing – TV/Media
Orion and the Dark – “Orion and the Dark”
Charlie Kaufman
DreamWorks Animation
Best Editorial – Feature
The Wild Robot
Mary Blee, Collin Erker, Orlando Duenas, Lucie Lyon, Brian Parker
DreamWorks Animation
Best Editorial – TV/Media
Arcane – “Pretend Like It’s the First Time”
Nazim Meslem, Gilad Carmel, Roberto Fernandez
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
