It was an evening of sweeps at the 52nd ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards, which were presented Saturday evening in a ceremony at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles.
Dreamworks Animations’ The Wild Robot won the top feature film prize as well as every category in which it was nominated, taking home nine Annies (it was nominated in the voice acting category twice, making it impossible to win all ten of its nominations). Meanwhile, the second season of Riot Games and Fortiche’s Arcane swept all seven of its nominations, pulling off a repeat of 2022 when it won all nine Annie categories in which it was nominated.
The dominant performance of The Wild Robot significantly boosts its prospects at the Oscars. Last month, after Flow won the Golden Globe, it looked like a shoo-in for the Oscar, but The Wild Robot has showed great strength during the home stretch. Not only did it deliver at the Annies, but the Chris Sanders film also won the Critics Choice Award on Friday evening and the Producer Guild Award last night.
Flow, however, did not go home empty-handed at the Annies. The micro-budget film by Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis won best indie feature, and in one of the biggest surprises of the evening, best writing for a feature, an impressive feat for a dialogue-less film.
All three other Oscar-nominated features – Inside Out 2 (seven Annie nominations), Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (seven nominations), and Memoir of a Snail (two nominations) – were winless at the Annies, as were other high-profile films like Moana 2, Kung Fu Panda 4, That Christmas, and Ultraman: Rising.
Arcane interestingly was not nominated for best overall series, but it won the seven craft categories in which it was nominated. It is a difficult show to compete against because its production pipeline is unlike any other series. The Arcane winners who accepted awards last night repeatedly pointed out that the two seasons of the show took eight years to produce, an uncommonly luxurious production schedule. It is also reportedly the most expensive animated series in history, and that budget shows onscreen. Certainly, other Annie contenders will be happy that Arcane’s second season is also its last.
While Arcane and The Wild Robot dominated the evening, there were other series and films that managed to pull out wins. Disney-Pixar’s series Dream Productions won two Annies (including best limited series); Jose Lopez was honored for series character design (Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur); and Habib Louati picked up feature storyboarding honors for Illumination’s Despicable Me 4.
Best Preschool TV/Media was presented to The Tiny Chef Show (and Tiny Chef gave the best acceptance speech of the evening), while Mature TV/Media was presented to Bob’s Burgers. Dreamwork Animation’s direct-to-streaming Netflix feature Orion and the Dark also enjoyed two honors: best special production and best writing tv/media for its Charlie Kaufman script.
A complete list of winners is below:
Best Feature
The Wild Robot
DreamWorks Animation
Best Indie Feature
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
Episode: Tiny Chef’s Spooky Stump Spectacular
Imagine Entertainment, Tiny Chef Productions and Nickelodeon Productions
Best TV/Media – Children
Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Episode: The Molecular Level
Flying Bark Productions, Disney Television Animation, Disney Branded Television
Best TV/Media – Mature
Bob’s Burgers
Episode: They Slug Horses, Don’t They?
20th Television Animation
Best TV/Media – Limited Series
Dream Productions
Episode: A Night to Remember
Pixar Animation Studios
Best Student Film
Adiós
Student Director: José Prats
Student Producer: Bernardo Angeletti
School: National Film and Television School
Best FX – TV/Media
Arcane
Episode: The Dirt Under Your Nails
Production Company: A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
FX Production Company: Fortiche Studio
Guillaume Degroote, Aurélien Ressencourt, Adam Bachiri, Guillaume Zaouche,
Jérôme Dupré
Best FX – Feature
The Wild Robot
Production Company: DreamWorks Animation
FX Production Company: DreamWorks Animation
Derek Cheung, Michael Losure, David Chow, Nyoung Kim, Steve Avoujageli
Best Character Animation – TV/Media
Arcane
Episodes: Killing Is A Cycle, Heavy Is the Crown, Finally Got the Name Right, The
Message Hidden Within the Pattern, The Dirt Under Your Nails, Pretend Like It’s the
First Time, Blisters and Bedrock
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Tom Gouill
Best Character Animation – Feature
The Wild Robot
DreamWorks Animation
Fabio Lignini
Best Character Animation – Live Action
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Production Company: 20th Century Studios
FX Production Company: Wētā FX
Christian Kickenweitz, Aidan Martin, Allison Orr, Radiya Alam, Howard Sly
Best Character Animation – Video Game
Neva
Nomada Studio
Nomada Studio Animation Team
Best Character Design – TV/Media
Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Episode: The Molecular Level
Disney Television Animation, Cinema Gypsy Productions
Jose Lopez
Best Character Design – Feature
The Wild Robot
DreamWorks Animation
Genevieve Tsai
Best Direction – TV/Media
Arcane
Episode: The Dirt Under Your Nails
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Arnaud Delord, Pascal Charrue, Bart Maunoury
Best Direction – Feature
The Wild Robot
DreamWorks Animation
Chris Sanders
Best Music – TV/Media
Arcane
Episode: The Dirt Under Your Nails
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Ryan Jillian Santiago, Alexander Seaver, Simon Wilcox
Best Music – Feature
The Wild Robot
DreamWorks Animation
Kris Bowers
Best Production Design – TV/Media
Arcane
Episode: The Dirt Under Your Nails
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Arnaud-Loris Baudry, Julien Georgel, Faustine Dumontier, Charlotte O’Neil
Best Production Design – Feature
The Wild Robot
DreamWorks Animation
Raymond Zibach, Ritchie Sacilioc
Best Storyboarding – TV/Media
Arcane
Episode: Killing is a Cycle
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Joséphine Meis
Best Storyboarding – Feature
Despicable Me 4
Illumination
Habib Louati
Best Voice Acting – TV/Media
Dream Productions
Episode: Out of Body
Pixar Animation Studios
Paula Pell (Character: Paula)
Best Voice Acting – Feature
The Wild Robot
DreamWorks Animation
Lupita Nyong’o (Character: Roz)
Best Writing – TV/Media
Orion and the Dark Special Production
DreamWorks Animation
Charlie Kaufman
Best Writing – Feature
Flow
Take Five, Sacrebleu Productions, Dream Well Studio
Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža
Best Editorial – TV/Media
Arcane
Episode: Pretend Like It’s the First Time
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Nazim Meslem, Gilad Carmel, Roberto Fernandez
Best Editorial – Feature
The Wild Robot
DreamWorks Animation
Mary Blee, Collin Erker, Orlando Duenas, Lucie Lyon, Brian Parker
Juried Awards
Winsor McCay (Lifetime achievement)
Aaron Blaise
Eunice Macaulay (posthumous)
Normand Roger
June Foray Award (significant and benevolent or charitable impact)
Women in Animation
Ub Iwerks Award (technical advancement)
Alberto Menache
Special Achievement Award
Don Peri and Pete Docter’s book Directing at Disney: The Original Directors of Walt’s Animated Films
