'Zootopia' and 'Kubo and the Two Strings' Top Annie Awards Nominations

Awards season is upon us and the Annie Awards just revealed the nominees for the 2016 animated films and TV shows. Disney's Zootopia leads the pack with 11 nominations, but Laika's Kubo and the Two Strings isn't that far behind with 10 nods.

Pixar Sweeps the Animated Feature Film Categories at the 43rd Annie Awards

The Annie Awards, which celebrates excellence in animation, held its 43rd ceremony last night in Los Angeles. And Pixar won big, going home with all the trophies for the animated feature film categories (except the Award for Best Animated Feature-Independent). Inside Out took ten Awards, with one going to The Good Dinosaur.
Disney Mickey Mouse and Bob's Burgers were the big winners in the TV categories.
See the full list of winners (in bold) and nominees after the break, plus a video of Peter Docter (Inside Out director) and Jonas Rivera (producer) accepting the Award for Best Animated Feature.

Frozen Wins Big at the Annie Awards

Disney's hot streak with Frozen is continuing into awards season now. The icy musical, which has now made $864 million worldwide (making it the third highest-grossing film of 2013), had a strong showing at the 41st Annie Awards (animation's self-titled "highest honour") a couple of nights ago, taking home, amongst other awards, Best Animated Feature! Check out our full breakdown of the results after the jump.

Annie Nominations: Frozen and Monsters University Lead the Pack

The Awards season is upon us and the Annies have taken the lead, announcing their nominations for outstanding achievements in the animation field. For animation fans, this is the only time we can see animated films get rewarded in multiple categories, instead of just the usual "Best Animated Feature." Here's a full breakdown of the nominations for both production and individual categories in theatrical films:

William on the Scotty Jo Podcast Again: Wreck-It Ralph, Monsters U, The Boxtrolls and a Whole Lot More!

A few weeks back I went on the Scotty Jo Podcast to talk animation, and yesterday episode 7 of the podcast was released, with another animation-themed appearance by me! Far more extensive than my last visit, Scotty Jo and I discuss the last few weeks' super-exciting animation news (prepare for a link-a-thon): my thoughts on Wreck-It Ralph, the new Monsters University trailer, Laika's The Boxtrolls, the BAFTAs, the Oscars, the Annies, Finding Nemo 2, DreamWorks' current woes, Illumination's upcoming slate, the recently released fake Frozen posters, The Good Dinosaur and even more! If you like animation and don't mind the sound of my voice, give it a listen!

You can listen to the episode here or subscribe to the Scotty Jo Podcast on iTunes. You can check mine and Scott's half hour-plus animation conversation out from about 7:15 on - but I recommend giving the whole show a listen; particularly if you like hilarious Daniel Day-Lewis jokes.

40th Annual Annie Awards Winners: Disney Wins Big

Last night, ASIFA-Hollywood handed out this year's Annie Awards, honouring the best of animation for 2012; the evening was hosted by animation and film historian Leonard Maltin. The Annies are self-touted as animation's highest honour, and last night the highest honours went to Disney.

Watch: Acclaimed Disney Short Film, Paperman

It's Oscar nominated, it's Annie nominated and now you can watch it online - John Kahrs' acclaimed animated short film, Paperman, which was released alongside Disney's latest feature, Wreck-It Ralph is now on YouTube (embedded above).

Huffington Post's Jim Hill exclusively unveiled the short, and it's a great show of faith by Disney in its fans to release the short in its entirety. Of course, more exposure can't hurt its Oscar chances either - particularly when it's got such strong competition, with films like The Longest Daycare and Adam and Dog.

Given that Wreck-It Ralph still isn't out here in the UK yet, this is the first time I've seen Paperman, and it really was worth the wait. The striking black-and-white look, the depth accomplished through the new, innovative technology, that delicately beautiful score and, most of all, the heart-warming story all make Paperman an absolute must-see - one that, fortunately, we can all now see.

Paperman debuts on the big screen in the UK with Wreck-It Ralph on 8th February.

Awards Bits: 40th Annual Annie Nominations, and New For Your Consideration Ads

Awards season is soon to be upon us, as such, ASIFA-Hollywood have unveiled the nominations for the 40th Annual Annie Awards. After the Pixar shut-out a couple of years ago, it seems things are back to normal this year, with Pixar/Pixarians getting a total of 10 nominations this year. That said, this year seems to be a very evenly distributed year, with DreamWorks getting a colossal 26 nominations (bear in mind they did release two features and a few TV specials this year).

10 Animated Shorts Make the Oscar Shortlist

Just last week we got the names of the animated shorts (and indeed features) submitted for Academy Award consideration, and today AMPAS have revealed the ten animated short films that have made it onto the Oscar short list. From these shorts - including last year's Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject winner, Adam and Dog, as well as Disney's Paperman and The Simpsons short The Longest Daycare - between three and five will progress to the final list of nominees.

The shortlist is as follows:

• "Adam and Dog," Minkyu Lee, director (Lodge Films)
• "Combustible," Katsuhiro Otomo, director (Sunrise Inc.)
• "Dripped," Léo Verrier, director (ChezEddy)
• "The Eagleman Stag," Mikey Please, director, and Benedict Please, music scores and sound design (Royal College of Art)
• "The Fall of the House of Usher," Raul Garcia, director, and Stephan Roelants, producer (Melusine Productions, R&R Communications Inc., Les Armateurs, The Big Farm)
• "Fresh Guacamole," PES, director (PES)
• "Head over Heels," Timothy Reckart, director, and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, producer (National Film and Television School)
• "Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”," David Silverman, director (Gracie Films)
• "Paperman," John Kahrs, director (Disney Animation Studios)
• "Tram," Michaela Pavlátová, director, and Ron Dyens, producer (Sacrebleu Productions)

I'm not even going to pretend I've seen all of these, but it'll be exciting to see which progress. Given all of its buzz and the mainstream audience it's getting with Wreck-It Ralph, Paperman seems set for a nomination; Adam and Dog seems likely too. And from a fanboy standpoint, it sure would be nice to see a Simpsons short get an Oscar nomination!

The 85th Academy Award nominations will be revealed on 10th January, 2013 and then the awards will be presented from the Dolby Theatre, at the Hollywood & Highland Centre, on 24th February. Until then, we'll keep you posted.

Via Cartoon Brew.

39th Annual Annie Awards Results

Saturday was the 39th Annual Annie Awards, honouring the greatest achievements in animation over the past year. Following on from a controversial year last year, where DreamWorks' How to Train your Dragon swept the ceremony, this year it was Nickelodeon and Paramount's Rango that topped the ceremony, winning 5 awards.

The animated western story of lonely and eponymous chameleon, Rango, is the frontrunner for the Animated Oscar this year, and beat out DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots, as well as Pixar's Cars 2 and others to scoop the top prize at this year's Annies. The Gore Verbinski directed film also took home awards, including Editing and Writing in a Feature Production.

Jennifer Yuh Nelson took home the award for Best Director for Kung Fu Panda 2, and there were awards handed to The Adventures of Tintin, Winnie the Pooh and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

For a full list of winners, click here.

More For Your Consideration Adverts

As awards season heats up, what with Annie, Golden Globe and more nominations being revealed, and the 84th Academy Awards getting closer and closer, we are treated to more and more For Your Consideration Ads, promoting the year's best animated films.

Above and below, you can see, courtesy of Awards Daily, some of the latest For Your Consideration Ads for animated films, including ones for the Warner Bros. short film, I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat, as well as Blue Sky Studios' Rio, DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots, and Aardman's Arthur Christmas.

For a full list of For Your Consideration Adverts, animated or otherwise, keep your eyes on Awards Daily.

Annie Award Nominations Revealed

ASIFA-Hollywood have revealed the nominations for the 39th Annual Annie Awards, 'Animation's Highest Honor' will be presented on February 4, 2012 and the extensive slate of nominations were released online today.

The top prize, the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, this year has a whopping 10 nominations, including my personal favourites, The Adventures of Tintin and Kung Fu Panda 2. The full list of nominations for the award can be viewed below:

Best Animated Feature

• A Cat in Paris – Folimage
• Arrugas (Wrinkles) - Perro Verde Films, S.L.
• Arthur Christmas – Sony Pictures Animation, Aardman Animations (my review)
• Cars 2 – Pixar Animation Studios (my review)
• Chico & Rita – Chico & Rita Distribution Limited
• Kung Fu Panda 2 – DreamWorks Animation (my review)
• Puss In Boots – DreamWorks Animation
• Rango – Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies present A Blind Wink/GK Films Production (my review)
• Rio – Blue Sky Studios (my review)
• Tintin – Amblin Entertainment, Wingnut Films and Kennedy/Marshall (my review)

There seems to be a large portion of Individual Achievement Awards for Disney's Winnie the Pooh (my review) and DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots - some absolutely gorgeous films. Obviously, as DreamWorks is one of the main sponsors of ASIFA-Hollywood, there's always the accusation of unfairness - especially due to the shut out of Toy Story 3 last year and the lack of nominations for Cars 2 this year, following the very public pulling out of the studio's support for the awards -, but Kung Fu Panda 2 was brilliant, and I'd hate to see a repeat of last year, where How to Train Your Dragon's monumentous wins were overshadowed by screams of fowl-play.

Read the full list of nominations here.

Also, rememeber to vote in the poll to the right, for your favourite animated film of the year, to decide The People's Favourite A113Animation Award.

A Collection of Things 3

I've once again decided to compile some of the best pictures, videos and articles that I've found in recent weeks, enjoy:

Firstly, we have (below) and in a similar vein to the Pixar Wars characters that we saw a few weeks ago, but a whole lot more detailed, Buzz Lightyear as Boba Fett. Courtesy of James Kennison from You'remockingmearen'tyou.com (awesome Toy Story themed name by the way) who uploads a new buzz drawing every day. Very original and very interesting.

We have 2 brilliant short films this week, we have (directly below) a DC Comic themed fan-boy short film, Superman Classic. It's a very entertaining and detailed short film and is brilliantly devoted to the source material. The film comes from Robert Pratt, a Disney animator who worked on Pocahontas and Tarzan. I love it and it's good to see lots of different types of short films. Robert is also currently working on Cars spin-off , Planes.



On the above note, we have another animated short film, from Pixar animator Cat Hicks, Wild Dogs (below). The films was created while she was studying at Ringling College of Art and Design, it is great, funny and not to mention brilliantly animated for a college film. Cat tweeted this past week that the short will soon air on  BBC, so keep your eyes peeled.



We also have a career montage and (hilarious scripted) acceptance speech from Brad Bird (below) upon recieving the Winsor McCay award alongside Matt Groening and Eric Goldberg. Worryingly, there may be some truth in this faux acceptance speech.

2011 Annie Awards, How to Train Your Dragon wins 10, Toy Story 3 Shut Out

Controversy is certain to surround the 2011 Annie Awards and it may well be a year that lives in infamy, mere months after Disney and Pixar publicly withdrew support for the Annie Awards and for ASIFA, due to allegedly unfair voting process, - and the fact that DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, buys each new DreamWorks member of staff an ASIFA Hollywood membership, automatically giving any decent DreamWorks film an edge - and in a similar vein to 2008 (when WALL E was shut out in favour of Kung Fu Panda), Toy Story 3 was COMPLETELY shut out.

While this was to be expected as Toy Story 3 was not officially submitted and only received 3 nominations, it's still disappointing. On the other hand, DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon swept the awards and won a gigantic 10, including all of the individual achievement awards that Toy Story 3 wasn't even nominated for!

Perhaps most importantly, How to Train Your Dragon won the Best Animated Feature Award, beating out Despicable Me, Tangled, The Illusionist and, of course, Toy Story 3. Congratulations to How to Train Your Dragon, it's certainly a fantastic film and one of my favourite animated films of all time and, as previously stated, at this point it seems pretty certain that Toy Story 3 is going to win the Best Animated Film Oscar, so it's nice to see HTTYD get some recognition. However, the fact that it won 10 awards and (the Best Picture nominated) Toy Story 3 won none, is only going to raise questions and controversy. As we saw in 2008 with Kung Fu Panda, I feel that the controversy is going to overshadow the achievements of How to Train Your Dragon.

Congrats to DreamWorks and consolidation to Pixar (who did manage to scoop the Best Animated Short Subject award for Day & Night, along with Brad Bird, Eric Goldberg, Matt Groening winning the Winsor McCay Award), but it's certain that ASIFA needs to have a close look at their process in the near future.

I'm not shocked at this, just disappointed.

Full list of awards and recipients here.

Thoughts?

Annie Nominations Revealed

The nominations have been revealed for the 38th annual Annie Awards, the nominations for Best Animated Feature are as follows:

• Despicable Me – Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures
• How to Train Your Dragon – DreamWorks Animation
• Tangled – Disney
• The Illusionist – Django Films
• Toy Story 3 – Disney/Pixar

Notably, Toy Story 3 is nominated, despite the fact that earlier in the year Disney and Pixar publicly withdrew support for the awards, due to the inexplicable voting and judging methods. Presumably still annoyed that WALL E (the eventual 2008 Oscar winner) lost to DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda, blaming the fact that DreamWorks buys each new employee an ASIFA-Holywood membership.

The nominations for Best Animated Short Subject are as follows:

• Coyote Falls - Warner Bros. Animation
• Day & Night – Pixar
• Enrique Wrecks the World - House of Chai
• The Cow Who Wanted To Be A Hamburger - Plymptoons Studio
• The Renter - Jason Carpenter

The awards will take place on February 5th, 2010