By Cole Watson and Andrea Hernandez
Following up its strong performance from last year, Netflix took home a total of 12 trophies at the 50th annual Annie Awards ceremony last night, with its original stop-motion film Pinocchio (pictured) doing some heavy lifting.
The Oscar-nominated feature from famed director Guillermo Del Toro took home Best Feature, beating out fellow Netflix productions The Sea Beast and Wendell & Wild, as well as DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and Pixar’s Turning Red. Pinocchio also racked up four additional feature film awards for Best Character Animation, Best Direction, Best Music and Best Production Design.
Dean Fleischer Camp’s stop-motion short film Marcel the Shell with Shoes On scored some big wins of its own, taking home the Best Indie Feature trophy, and also emerging victorious in the Best Writing and Best Voice Acting feature categories.
Disney had three wins with 11 nominations, falling short of its five-trophy tally from last year. The studio’s long-awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water won Best FX—Feature and Best Character Animation—Live Action, while Disney+ CG-animated series Zootopia+ came out on top in the Best Voice Acting—TV/Media category.
After two years as a virtual event, the Annies returned to LA in a live awards ceremony held at the University of California’s Royce Hall. A full list of winners is available online, but here are the results in 10 key categories:
Best Feature
Pinocchio (Netflix, Double Dare You!, Shadowmachine Production, The Jim Henson Company)
Best Indie Feature
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Marcel the Movie)
Best Special Production
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (NoneMore, Bad Robot Production)
Best TV/Media—Preschool
The Tiny Chef Show (Tiny Chef Productions, Imagine Entertainment)
Best TV/Media—Children
Abominable and the Invisible City (DreamWorks Animation)
Best FX—Feature
Avatar: The Way of Water—Wētā FX (20th Century Studios, Disney Studios)
Best Character Animation—Feature
Pinocchio—Tucker Barrie (Netflix, Double Dare You!, Shadowmachine Production, The Jim Henson Company)
Best Character Animation—TV/Media
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (NoneMore, Bad Robot Production)
Best Direction—Feature
Pinocchio—Guillermo Del Toro, Mark Gustafson (Netflix, Double Dare You!, Shadowmachine Production, The Jim Henson Company)
Best Storyboarding
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish—Anthony Holden (DreamWorks Animation)