Annie Awards: ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’ Takes Best Feature And Tops Winners List; ‘Blue Eye Samurai’ Dominates TV

Patrick Hipes
·5 min read
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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse sling-shotted past the competition to dominate the 51st Annie Awards, which were handed out Sunday night at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The Sony Animation sequel snared Best Feature and six other trophies — the same number that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse scored at the 2019 Annies — setting it up as the front-runner for the Animated Feature Oscar next month.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse went on to take Best Animated Feature at the 91st Academy Awards.

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Since the Best Animated Feature Oscar category was launched in 2002, 14 of the 21 winners of the Annies’ top feature prize – and seven of the past 11 – went on to claim the golden statuette. Last year followed suit, as Netflix’s Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio triumphed at both trophy shows.

On Sunday, Spider-Man scored wins for Directing, Music, Production Design, Character Design, FX and editing.

Gkids’ Hayao Miyazaki hit The Boy and the Heron and Netflix’s Nimona — the latter of which came into the ceremony with a leading nine nominations — were the other top film winners, taking two trophies apiece Robot Dreams from Arcadia Motion Pictures won Best Feature – Independent. Those three films will battle for the Academy Award next month against Spider-Verse and Disney/Pixar’s Elemental.

Nimona won tonight for Writing and Voice Acting for Chloë Grace Moretz, while The Boy and the Heron won Best Storyboarding for its director Hayao Miyazaki and for Character Animation.

Sunday marked the first time in 32 years no Disney or Pixar film was up for the Annies’ top prize, and their Elemental went home empty-handed tonight. So did Paramount/Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Toho’s anime Suzume, which also were nominated for Best Feature tonight.

The TV categories were a rout for Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai, which landed a half-dozen trophies, scooping up wins for Writing, editing, FX, Character Design, Production Design and Best TV/Media for Mature Audiences.

Disney Television Animation’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur won three Annies, and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: Visions got two — the only small-screen titles to take multiple prizes.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

BEST FEATURE
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Sony Pictures Animation

BEST FEATURE – INDEPENDENT

Robot Dreams
Arcadia Motion Pictures

BEST DIRECTION – FEATURE

Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Sony Pictures Animation

BEST DIRECTION – TV/MEDIA

Paul Young
Star Wars: Visions
Episode: Screecher’s Reach
Lucasfilm Ltd. / Cartoon Saloon

BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATURE

Hayao Miyazaki
The Boy and the Heron
Studio Ghibli / Distributed by Gkids

BEST STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIA

Ben Juwono
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Episode: Goodnight Moon Girl
Disney Television Animation / Cinema Gypsy Productions

BEST TV/MEDIA – LIMITED SERIES

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire
Episode: Enkai
Triggerfish & Blinkink

BEST TV/MEDIA – MATURE

Blue Eye Samurai
Episode: Pilot: Hammerscale
A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions

BEST TV/MEDIA – CHILDREN

Hilda
Episode: Chapter 8: The Fairy Isle
Hilda Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media Company, Netflix Inc. and Mercury Filmworks

BEST TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOL

Ghee Happy
Episode: Navagraha
Ghee Happy Studio

BEST WRITING – FEATURE

Robert L. Baird, Lloyd Taylor
Nimona
Annapurna Animation for Netflix

BEST WRITING – TV/MEDIA

Amber Noizumi
Blue Eye Samurai
Episode: The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride
A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions

BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE

Chloë Grace Moretz (character: Nimona)
Nimona
Annapurna Animation for Netflix

BEST VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIA

Diamond White (character: Lunella Lafayette / Moon Girl)
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Episode: Moon Girl Landing
Disney Television Animation / Cinema Gypsy Productions

BEST EDITORIAL – FEATURE

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Editorial Team
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Sony Pictures Animation

BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA

Yuka Shirasuna
Blue Eye Samurai
Episode: The Tale of the Ronin and the Bride
A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions

BEST FX – FEATURE

Pav Grochola, Filippo Maccari, Naoki Kato, Nicola Finizio, Edmond Boulet- Gilly
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Sony Pictures Animation
FX: Sony Pictures Imageworks

BEST FX – TV/MEDIA

Thomas Decaens, Karl Burtin, Laurent Bretonniere
Blue Eye Samurai
Episode: All Evil Dreams and Angry Words
A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions
FX: Blue Spirit

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE

Takeshi Honda
The Boy and the Heron
Studio Ghibli Distributed by Gkids

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV/MEDIA

Alex Bard
Blue Eye Samurai
Episodes: 101, 104 and 106
A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION

Fernando Herrera, Chris Hurtt, Nathan McConnel, Daniel Cabral, Chris McGaw
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Marvel Studios
FX: Framestore

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAME

Insomniac Games Animation Team
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Insomniac Games

BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE

Jesús Alonso Iglesias
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Sony Pictures Animation

BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIA

Jose Lopez
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Episode: The Beyonder
Disney Television Animation / Cinema Gypsy Productions

BEST MUSIC – FEATURE

Daniel Pemberton, Metro Boomin
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Sony Pictures Animation

BEST MUSIC – TV/MEDIA

Markus Wormstorm, Nadia Darries, Dineo du Toit
Star Wars: Visions
Episode: Aau’s Song
Lucasfilm Ltd. / Triggerfish

BEST SPONSORED

“Video Games” by Tenacious D
Pinreel Inc

BEST SPECIAL PRODUCTION

Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie
WildBrain Studios in association with Apple

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE

Patrick O’Keefe, Dean Gordon
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Sony Pictures Animation

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIA

Toby Wilson, James Wilson, Emil Mitev
Blue Eye Samurai
Episode: The Great Fire of 1657
A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Production

BEST SHORT SUBJECT

War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko
ElectroLeague

BEST STUDENT FILM

The Little Poet
Student director: Justine King
School: California Institute of the Arts

Previously Announced

The Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime or Career Contributions

Charlotte “Lotte” Reiniger (posthumous)
Joe Hisaishi
Marcy Page

The June Foray Award (Significant and benevolent or charitable impact)

BRIC Foundation (Alison Mann and Nicole Hendrix, co-founders)

The Ub Lwerks Award (Technical advancement affecting the animation industry)

John Oxberry (posthumous)

The Special Achievement Award (Unique and outstanding achievement not recognized within the existing award category structure)

The Artists of Walt Disney Animation

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