Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Zootopia took the top honor as Best Animated Feature at the recent 44th Annual Annie Awards. The films also received an Annies trophy for Outstanding Storyboarding – Dean Wellins; Outstanding Character Design – Cory Loftis; Outstanding Voice Acting – Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde; Outstanding Writing – Jared Bush & Phil Johnston; and Best Directing – Byron Howard & Rich Moore.
Best Animated Feature – Independent was presented to the film, The Red Turtle (Studio Ghibli – Wild Bunch – Why Not Productions). Laika’s Kubo And The Two Strings garnered three Annies for Outstanding Achievement in Character Animation, Production Design and Editorial.
Best Animated Special Production was awarded to Pear Cider and Cigarettes (Massive Swerve Studios and Passion Pictures Animation) whilst Best Animated Short Subject went to Piper (Pixar Animation Studios).
For the small screen, Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production went to Children Adventure Time – Bad Jubies (Bix Pix Entertainment, Cartoon Network, Frederator Studios) and Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production: The Jungle Book (Walt Disney Pictures).
Presenting the coveted Annie trophies this year were Lakers basketball legend, Kobe Bryant; actress Jenna Elfman; animator and film director and Patrick Osborne; Auli’l Cravalho – voice of Moana.
Created in 1972 by June Foray, the Annie Awards honours overall excellence as well as individual achievement in a total of 36 categories related to the field of animation.
