Precursor: 25th Annie Awards Nominations (2016)

By benefit of receiving a double nomination in a single category, Zootopia barely edges out Kubo and the Two Strings for the year’s most nominated animated feature. The two will likely be duking it out for dominance with Kubo‘s more inventive stop-motion animation sure to be a foil to the Disney juggernaut from earlier this year.

Noteworthy snubs: Sing, the unreleased animated singing competition film, earned only a single nomination. The Little Prince earned two nominations, neither of which was in a major category. Finding Dory may have earned an Animated Feature citation, but its 3 nominations is utterly anemic. The same can be said for Kung Fu Panda 3, an early-year release that may have been largely forgotten (though Zootopia was not). Moana did well, but clearly the Disney film of the year according to the Annie Awards, at least in terms of the Disney/Pixar slate, is Zootopia.

Their annual awards ceremony is worth a few chuckles in spite of its meager production values. Stream it if you can.

Nominations Tallies

(11) Zootopia
(10) Kubo and the Two Strings
(6) Moana
(5) The Red Turtle
(4) Kung Fu Panda 3, Trolls
(3) Finding Dory, My Life As a Zucchini

The Nominations

Best Animated Feature

Finding Dory
Kubo and the Two Strings
Kung Fu Panda 3
Moana
Zootopia

Best Animated Feature – Independent

Long Way North
Miss Hokusai
My Life As a Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Your Name.

Best Animated Short Subject

Blind Vaysha
Deer Flower
Path Title Sequence
Pearl
Piper

Best Animated Special Production

Audrie & Daisy
Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll
Little Big Awesome
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life
Pear Cider and Cigarettes

Best Animated Effects, Animation

Kubo and the Two Strings
Kung Fu Panda 3
Moana
The Red Turtle
Zootopia

Best Animated Effects, Live Action

Deepwater Horizon – The Rig
Doctor Strange – Mirror Dimension
Ghostbusters
The BFG
Warcraft – Magic

Best Character Animation, Animated Feature

Finding Dory
Kubo and the Two Strings
Kung Fu Panda 3
Zootopia (Animator : Dave Hardin Character: Judy Hopps, Stu Hopps, Bonnie Hopps, Chief Bogo, Nick Wilde)
Zootopia (Animator : Chad Sellers Character: Mr. Big, Koslov, Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, Flash)

Best Character Animation, Live Action Feature

Captain America: Civil War – Spider-Man
Game of Thrones – Battle of the Bastards
The Jungle Book (Animation Supervisor: Andrew R. Jones, Animation Supervisor: Peta Bayley, Animation Supervisor: Gabriele Zucchelli, Character Supervisor: Benjamin Jones)
The Jungle Book (Animation Supervisor: Andrew R. Jones, Senior Animation Supervior: Paul Story, Animation Supervisor: Dennis Yoo, Motion Editor: Eteuati Tema, Senior Facial Modeller: Andrei Coval)
Warcraft – Orcs

Best Character Design

Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
The Secret Life of Pets
Trolls
Zootopia

Best Directing

Kubo and the Two Strings – Travis Knight
My Life As a Zucchini – Claude Barras
The Red Turtle – Michael Dudok De Wit
Your Name. – Makoto Shinkai
Zootopia – Byron Howard, Rich Moore

Best Music

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusader – Kristopher Carter, Lolita Ritmanis, Michael McCuistion
Sing – Joby Talbot
The Little Prince – Hans Zimmer, Richard Harvey, Camille
The Red Turtle – Laurent Perez Del Mar
The Secret Life of Pets – Alexandre Desplat