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