“Coco” has been named the top animated feature of 2017 at the 45th Annual Annie Awards, which were presented on Saturday night at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus.
“Coco” had led all films in nominations with 13, and it dominated by winning 11 Annies. The only times the Pixar hit lost were in the character animation and storyboarding categories, where the film had two of the five nominations and one “Coco” nominee lost to another “Coco” nominee.
The results were a big turnaround for “Coco” director Lee Unkrich, who was last at the Annie Awards in 2011, when the show was routinely dominated by DreamWorks Animation and his “Toy Story 3” was shut out while “How to Train Your Dragon” won 10 awards.
The voting system was subsequently overhauled, and on Saturday “Coco” won in every feature-film category except the two in which it was not eligible: Outstanding Achievement in Character Animation in a Live-Action Production, in which “War for the Planet of the Apes” won, and Best Animated Feature – Independent, which went to Cartoon Saloon and GKIDS’ “The Breadwinner.”
That film, which had been second in nominations to “Coco” with 10, was executive produced by Angelina Jolie, who was in attendance at the ceremony.
In the 16 years since the Academy created the Best Animated Feature category, the Annie Awards winner has gone on to win the animation Oscar 11 times.
In the TV categories, “Rick and Morty” took best general animated program. “We Bare Bears” and “The Octonauts” won in the two children’s TV categories.
“Dear Basketball,” the Oscar-nominated short film from Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant, won the Annie for Best Animated Short Subject.
Also at the ceremony, British animator James Baxter, “SpongeBob SquarePants” creator Stephen Hillenburg and Canadian animation duo Wendy Tilby and Amanda Fobis received Windsor McCay Awards for career contributions to animation. The Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement went to TVPaint and the Special Achievement Award went to Studio MDHR Entertainment for the game “Cuphead.”
The June Foray Award, named for the voice actress who died at the age of 99 in July, went to animation historian Didier Ghez, while the Certificate of Merit was given to David Nimitz, who was Foray’s longtime friend and caretaker.
The Annie Awards are presented by the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood.
The winners:
Best Animated Feature:
“Coco” – Pixar Animation Studios
Best Animated Feature – Independent:
“The Breadwinner” – Cartoon Saloon/Aircraft Pictures/Melusine Productions
Best Animated Special Production:
“Revolting Rhymes” – Magic Light Pictures
Best Animated Short Subject:
“Dear Basketball” – Glen Keane Productions, Kobe Studios, Believe Entertainment Group
Best Animated Television/Broadcast Commercial:
“June” – Broad Reach Pictures/Chromosphere/Lyft
Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production for Preschool Children:
“Octonauts” / Episode: Operation Deep Freeze – Vampire Squid Productions Limited, a Silvergate Media company, in association with Brown Bag Films
Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Children:
“We Bare Bears” / Episode: Panda’s Art – Cartoon Network Animation Studios
Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production:
“Rick and Morty” / Episode: 303 -“Pickle Rick” – Williams Street Productions
Best Student Film:
“Poles Apart” – Director: Paloma Baeza; Producer: Ser En Low, All Student Crew
Animated Effects in an Animated Production:
“Coco” – Effects Artist: Shaun Galinak; Jason Johnston; Carl Kaphan; Effects Lead: Dave Hale; Keith Daniel Klohn
Character Animation in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production:
“Trollhunters” / Episode: 205 – “Homecoming” – Character Animator: Bruno Chiou; Yi-Fan Cho (Character: Blinky, Dictatious, Aaarrrgghh!!); Lead Animator: Kevin Jong; Chun-Jung Chu (Character: Blinky, Dictatious, Aaarrrgghh!!)
Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production:
“Coco” – Animator: John Chun Chiu Lee (Character: All characters)
Character Animation in a Live Action Production:
“War for the Planet of the Apes” – Animation Supervisor: Daniel Barrett; Sidney Kombo Kintombo; Emile Ghorayeb; Lead Motion Editor: Luisma Lavin Peredo; Lead Facial Modeller: Alessandro Bonora
Character Animation in a Video Game:
“Cuphead” – Lead Animator: Hanna Abi-Hanna (Characters: The Devil, Grim Matchstick, Beppi The Clown, Werner Werman)
Character Design in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production:
“Samurai Jack” / Episode: XCVI – Character Design: Craig Kellman (Character: Various)
Character Design in an Animated Feature Production:
“Coco” – Character Art Director: Daniel Arriaga (Character: All characters); Additional Character Art Direction: Daniela Strijleva (Character: All characters); Character Design/Sculptor: Greg Dykstra (Character: All characters); Character Modeller: Alonso Martinez (Character: All characters); Character Designer: Zaruhi Galstyan (Character: All characters)
Directing in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production:
“Disney Mickey Mouse” / Episode: The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular! – Director: Dave Wasson; Director: Eddie Trigueros; Director: Alonso Ramirez-Ramos
Directing in an Animated Feature Production:
“Coco” – Director: Lee Unkrich Pixar; Co-Director: Adrian Molina
Music in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production:
“Disney Mickey Mouse” / Episode: The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular! – Composer: Christopher Willis
Music in an Animated Feature Production:
“Coco” – Composer: Michael Giacchino; Composer/Lyricist: Kristin Anderson-Lopez; Composer/Lyricist: Robert Lopez; Composer: Germaine Franco; Lyricist: Adrian Molina
Production Design in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production:
“Samurai Jack” / Episode: XCIII – Production Design: Scott Wills
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production:
“Coco” – Production Design: Harley Jessup; Danielle Feinberg; Bryn Imagire; Nathaniel McLaughlin; Ernesto Nemesio; Tom Cardone; Arden Chan
Storyboarding in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production:
“Disney Mickey Mouse” / Episode: Bee Inspired – Storyboard Artist: Eddie Trigueros
Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production:
“Coco” – Storyboard Artist: Dean Kelly
Voice Acting in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production:
“SpongeBob SquarePants” – Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production:
“Coco” – Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel
Writing in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production:
“Rick and Morty” / Episode: 307 – “The Ricklantis Mixup” – Writer: Ryan Ridley; Dan Guterman
Writing in an Animated Feature Production:
“Coco” – Writer: Adrian Molina; Matthew Aldrich
Editorial in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production:ed
“Samurai Jack” / Episode: XCIII, XCIV, XCIX – Paul Douglas
Editorial in an Animated Feature Production:
“Coco” – Steve Bloom; Lee Unkrich; Greg Snyder; Tim Fox