Mar 13, 2022

'Esoteric' Mitchell vs.Dominate the Machine 'Annie Awards (Analysis + Complete Winners list)

Netflix dominated the 49th annual ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards, racking up 20 wins in 31 categories. The ceremony was presented virtually for the second year in a row.

The streamer's two leading winners were the Riot Games/Fortiche Production series Arcane, which won all nine categories in which it was nominated and Sony Pictures Animation's The Mitchells vs. The Machines, which won eight times, including the top prize for best feature.

The streamer also picked up two wins for its limited series Maya and the Three (tv/media – children, tv/media – music), and one for Ada Twist, Scientist (tv/media – preschool).

The Walt Disney Company, the traditional Annie juggernaut, had a quiet evening with just five wins. It was the least wins for Disney since the 38th Annies back in 2011, the year that Disney boycotted the awards show.

Disney earned three craft awards for Encanto (storyboarding, character animation, and music in a feature), as well as two for Marvel projects (an editorial win for Marvel Studios's What If…- and a character animation in live-action for Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings).

The strong performance of The Mitchells vs. The Machines is not as surprising as it might seem at first. Both producer Sony Pictures Animation and distributor Netflix have been a significant force at the Annies in recent years.

In 2019, Sony Pictures Animation's breakthrough film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won seven Annies, while in 2020, Netflix's in-house 2d feature Klaus won seven honors.

It was due to the pandemic that Sony couldn't release Mitchells theatrically, so Netflix stepped in as distributor for the feature. Both companies have shown a unified objective to push feature animation graphically, and their collaboration on Mitchells has proven to be a win for both sides.

More surprising was the performance of the Netflix series Arcane, which absolutely dominated on the series side, something that usually doesn't happen in the series categories. As recently as last year, winners in the tv categories included kids' productions from American studios like Cartoon Network Studios, Warner Bros. Animation, Dreamworks Animation, and Disney TV Animation.

Even more remarkable is that Arcane was made in France at Fortiche, a studio that made its name with video game trailers and advertising projects, and has only recently moved into series work. This upends the long-running narrative that the Annies is an L.A.-centric event that primarily rewards American studios.

Annie voters, who are largely comprised of animation industry workers in Los Angeles, are sending a clear message that animation has entered a new era and that American studios need to step up their game and allow for more graphically and technically innovative series productions.

Besides The Mitchells vs. The Machines and Encanto, two other current Oscar nominees won awards: the three-time Oscar-nominated Flee won the Annie indie feature category, while the Chilean short Bestia picked up the honor for short film. Will the Annie wins have an impact on the Oscar race-

On the shorts side, that's unlikely. The winner Bestia wasn't up against any of the other Oscar nominees, so it's hard to make a direct comparison. The last time the Annies and Oscars agreed on a short winner was in 2018 for Glen Keane's Dear Basketball.

The feature race is more telling though. Prior to yesterday evening, the Annies and the Oscars have settled on the same winner for five of the previous six years. The only exception was in 2020, when Klaus won the Annie and Toy Story 4 won the Oscar. We'll have to watch to see if the strong performance of Mitchells helps sway Oscar voters in its favor over current favorite, Encanto.

Here is the complete list of winners from the Annies:

The Mitchells vs. The Machines Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix

Flee Final Cut For Real, Sun Creature, Vivement Lundi !, MostFilm, Mer Film, VICE, Left HandFilms, Participant

Namoo Baobab Studios

Bestia Trebol 3 Producciones, Maleza Estudio

A Future Begins Nexus Studios

Ada Twist, Scientist Episode: Twelve Angry Birds Laughing Wild, Higher Ground Productions, Wonder Worldwide, Netflix

Maya and the Three Episode: The Sun and the Moon A Netflix Series

Arcane Episode: When These Walls Come Tumbling Down A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix

Night of the Living Dread ?Student director: Ida Melum ?Student producer: Danielle Goff ?School: National Film and Television School, UK

Arcane ?Episode: Oil and Water? Guillaume Degroote, Frederic Macé, Jérôme Dupré, Aurélien Ressencourt, Martin Touzé? FX Production Company: Fortiche Productions

The Mitchells vs. The Machines Christopher Logan, Man-Louk Chin,?Devdatta Nerurkar, Pav Grochola, Filippo Maccari FX Production Company: Sony Pictures Imageworks

Arcane Episode: The Monster You Created Lea Chervet

Encanto? Dave Hardin

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings FX Production Company:?Weta Digital ?Karl Rapley, Sebastian Trujillo, Richard John Moore, Merlin Bela, Wassilij Maertz, Pascal Raimbault

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Insomniac Games

Arcane Episode: Some Mysteries Better Left Unsolved ?Evan Monteiro

The Mitchells vs. The Machines Lindsey Olivares

Arcane? Episode: The Monster You Created Pascal Charue, Arnaud Delord, Barthelemy Maunoury

The Mitchells vs. The Machines Mike Rianda,? Jeff Rowe

Maya and the Three Episode: The Sun and the Moon Tim Davies, Gustavo Santaolalla

Encanto? Lin-Manuel Miranda, Germaine Franco

Arcane? Episode: Happy Progress Day! Julien Gorgel, Aymeric Kevin, Arnaud Baudry

The Mitchells vs. The Machines ?Lindsey Olivares, Toby Wilson, Dave Bleich

Arcane Episode: When These Walls Come Tumbling Down? Simon Andriveau

Encanto? Jason Hand

Arcane Episode: When These Walls Come Tumbling Down Ella Purnell

The Mitchells vs. The Machines Abbi Jacobson

Arcane? Episode: The Monster You Created Christian Linke, Alex Yee

The Mitchells vs. The Machines Mike Rianda, Jeff Rowe

What If…- Episode: What If…Ultron Won- Joel Fisher, Graham Fisher, Sharia Davis, Basuki Juwono, Adam Spieckerman

The Mitchells vs. The Machines? Greg Levitan, Collin Wightman, T.J. Young, Tony Ferdinand, Bret Allen

Winsor McCay Award (lifetime achievement) Ruben Aquino, Lillian Schwartz, Toshio Suzuki

June Foray Award (significant and benevolent or charitable impact) Renzo Kinoshita (deceased), Sayoko Kinoshita

Ub Iwerks Award (technical advancement) Python Foundation

Special Achievement Award (unique and outstanding achievement) Glen Vilppu

Certificate of Merit (service to the art and industry) Evan Vernon