‘Zootopia’ dominates the 44th Annie Awards while ‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ misses the cut

The halls of Disney animation studio might be brimming with joy as their award gallery just got filled with more trophies which the studio won for Zootopia and Moana. At the recently concluded 44th Annie Awards presented by ASIFA – Hollywood, which was hosted on 4 February, 2017 at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Zootopia bagged the six awards out of the total 11 nominations, including the best animated feature.

Zootopia directors Byron Howard and Rich Moore, character design artist Cory Loftis, storyboard artist Dean Wellins and writers Jared Bush and Phil Johnston, all won awards. Jason Bateman, the voice of Nick Wilde shared the Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production win with Auli’i Cravalho – the voice of Moana for the film ‘Moana’.

The Red Turtle of Studio Ghibli, directed by Michael Dudok de Wit won Best Independent Animated Feature while Pixar’s Piper, directed by Alan Barillaro, won Best Animated Short. Moana took home an Annie for animated effects in an animated feature (Marlon West, Erin V. Ramos, Blair Pierpont, Ian J. Coony and John M. Kosnik). Kubo and the Two Strings won awards for character animation (Jan Maas), production design (Nelson Lowry, Trevor Dalmer, August Hall and Ean McNamara) and editorial (Christopher Murrie). Moana and Kubo and the Two Strings were also nominated for Best Animated Feature.

As a studio, Disney has 10 awards to its name, including wins for its TV series Disney Mickey Mouse (Illya Owens for editorial in a TV / broadcast production) and for character animation in a live-action production for The Jungle Book (Andrew R. Jones, Peta Bayley, Gabriele Zucchelli, and Benjamin Jones).

Marvel’s Doctor Strange picked up Animated Effects in a Live Action Production award for its Mirror Dimension (Georg Kaltenbrunner, Michael Marcuzzi, Thomas Bevan, Andrew Graham and Jihyun Yoon). Outstanding achievement for character animation in a video game went to Uncharted 4: A Thief ‘s End (JeremyYates, Almudena Soria, Eric Baldwin, Paul Davies and Tom Bland). Composers Hans Zimmer, Richard Harvey and Camille grabbed the prize for best music in an animate feature for The Little Prince.

Apart from these, Finding Dory of Pixar Animation Studios and Kung Fu Panda 3 of DreamWorks Animation were nominated in a lot of categories but did not win any awards. Makoto Shinkai’s Your Name was nominated for Directing in an Animated Feature Production.

Zootopia
Zootopia

Here’s a complete list of the winners at 44th Annie Awards:

Best Animated Feature
Zootopia (Walt Disney Animation Studios)

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, 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 (Amazon Studios and Bix Pix Entertainment)
Episode: Mighty Mud Movers / Having a Ball

Best Animated Television / Broadcast Production For Children
Adventure Time (Bix Pix Entertainment Cartoon Network Frederator Studios)
Episode: Bad Jubies

Best General Audience Animated Television / Broadcast Production
Bob’s Burgers (Bento Box Entertainment)
Episode: Glued, Where’s My Bob?

Best Student Film
Citipati (Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg)
Director: Andreas Feix

Animated Effects in an Animated Production
Moana (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
Marlon West, Erin V. Ramos, Blair Pierpont, Ian J. Coony and John M. Kosnik

Animated Effects in a Live Action Production
Doctor Strange – Mirror Dimension (Marvel Studios)
Georg Kaltenbrunner, Michael Marcuzzi, Thomas Bevan, Andrew Graham, Jihyun Yoon

Character Animation in an Animated TV / Broadcast Production
Mike Chaffe
DreamWorks Trollhunters (DreamWorks Animation Television)
Episode: Becoming, Part 1

Character Animation in a Feature Production
Jan Maas
Kubo and the Two Strings (Laika)

Character Animation in a Live Action Production
Andrew R. Jones, Peta Bayley, Gabriele Zucchelli, Benjamin Jones
The Jungle Book (Walt Disney Pictures)

Character Animation in a Video Game
Jeremy Yates, Almudena Soria, Eric Baldwin, Paul Davies, Tom Bland
Uncharted 4: A Thief ‘s End (Naughty Dog)

Character Design in an Animated TV / Broadcast Production
Victor Maldonado, Alfredo Torres, Jules Rigolle
DreamWorks Trollhunters (DreamWorks Animation Television)
Episode: Win, Lose or Draal

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
Cory Loftis
Zootopia (Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Patrick Osborne
Pearl (Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures)

Directing in an Animated Feature Production
Byron Howard, Rich Moore
Zootopia (Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Music in a TV/Broadcast Production
Scot Stafford, Alexis Harte, JJ Wiesler
Pearl (Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures)

Music in an Animated Feature Production
Hans Zimmer, Richard Harvey, Camille
The Little Prince (Netflix and On Animation Studios)

Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Tuna Bora
Pearl (Google Spotlight Stories/Evil Eye Pictures)

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Nelson Lowry, Trevor Dalmer, August Hall, Ean McNamara
Kubo and the Two Strings (Laika)

Storyboarding in a TV/Broadcast Production
Hyunjoo Song
DreamWorks Trollhunters (DreamWorks Animation Television)
Episode: Win, Lose or Draal

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
Dean Wellins
Zootopia (Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Carlos Alazraqui as Ponce de LeÛn
The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show (DreamWorks Animation Television)
Episode: Ponce de LeÛn

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (Tie)
Auli’i Cravalho as Moana in Moana (Walt Disney Animation Studios) and
Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde in Zootopia (Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
Lizzie Molyneux, Wendy Molyneux
Bob’s Burgers (Bento Box Entertainment)
Episode: The Hormone-iums

Writing in an Animated Feature Production
Jared Bush, Phil Johnston
Zootopia (Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Editorial in a TV/Broadcast Production
Illya Owens
Disney Mickey Mouse (Disney Television Animation)
Episode: Sock Burglar

Editorial in an Animated Feature Production
Christopher Murrie
Kubo and the Two Strings (Laika)