It already has taken Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes and PGA Awards, and tonight scored the big prize at the 43rd Annie Awards. This win from its peer community — along with nine others — puts Pixar’s pic and its $856.8 million worldwide box office solidly in the front-runner spot for this year’s Academy Awards on February 28.
“Sorry if you guys are sick of seeing us up here, ” said director Peter Docter on a night that saw the Pixar pic dominate at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
Docter also won for writing and directing the film about the primary emotions of an 11-year-old girl, which came in with a leading 14 nominations from ASIFA-Hollywood. On a weekend that finds DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 3 topping the box office again, the other Annie contenders for Best Animated Feature this year were fellow Pixar offering The Good Dinosaur, Shaun The Sheep Movie, Fox’s The Peanuts Movie and Anomalisa, co-directed by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson.
The Good Dinosaur and The Peanuts Movie are not up for the Oscar later this month but Boy & The World and Studio Ghibi’s When Marnie Was There are. The latter duo was among the nominees tonight in the new Best Animated Feature – Independent category.
While 2015 was a rare exception, the big winner at the Annies has also taken Oscar gold in nine of 14 years since the Best Animated Feature category was introduced at the Academy Awards. Last year, DreamWorks Animation’s How To Train Your Dragon 2 won at the Annies but, in a notable upset, Disney’s Big Hero 6 got the Academy Award. Which, of course, raises the question – will this year see a return to tradition or another upset?
On the TV side, stalwart The Simpsons won the big prize of Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production. Disney’s Mickey Mouse scooped three Annie Awards, and Bob’s Burgers cooked up a pair.
Here is the complete list of winners:
Best Animated Feature
Inside Out
Pixar Animation Studios
Directing in an Animated Feature Production
Inside Out
Pixar Animation Studios
Director: Pete Docter
Directing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
Gravity Falls
Episode: “Northwest Mansion Mystery”
Disney Television Animation
Director: Matt Braly
Boy and the World is nominated also for Best Animated Picture at the Academy Awards. This is the new Annies category introduced this year.
Best Animated Feature – Independent
Boy and the World
Filme de Papel
The Simpsons boss Matt Groening says he did watch GOP debate tonight and the Annies “is a lot less cartoon-y.” Needless to say, the audience in Royce Hall loved that.
Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production
The Simpsons
Episode: “Halloween of Horror”
Gracie Films in Association with 20th Century Fox Television
Johannesburg native Sharlto Copley and Michael-Leon Wooley riff on Copley being African-American. The bit is funny but goes overlong. Wooley wraps it by declaring, “Black cartoons matter.”
Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Children
Wander Over Yonder
Episode: “The Breakfast”
Disney Television Animation
Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children
Tumble Leaf
Episode: “Mirror”
Amazon Studios and Bix Pix Entertainment
Inside Out
Pixar Animation Studios
Cast: Phyllis Smith
Character: Sadness
Nice to see Bob’s Burgers getting some Annie love tonight. The show has a lot of animation competition on Fox (hiya, The Simpsons and Family Guy) but never fails to shine with wit.
She’s not just the most high-energy presenter tonight, Kristen Schaal was, to paraphrase her acceptance speech, “killing it” as a winner too. Make Schaal the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler of the Annies.
