Netflix dominates the Annie Awards field

NIMONA – A Knight (Riz Ahmed) is framed for a crime he didn’t commit and the only person who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), a shape-shifting teen who might also be a monster he’s sworn to kill. Set in a techno-medieval world unlike anything animation has tackled before, this is a story about the labels we assign to people and the shapeshifter who refuses to be defined by anyone. Cr: Netflix © 2023

For another year in a row, the global streamer is at the front of the pack vying for these annual animation awards, with Nimona responsible for nine of its 28 nods.

Netflix is leading this year’s Annie Awards race, with 28 nominations for its animated series and films. ASIFA-Hollywood, which runs the annual awards program, will announce 2024’s winners at a ceremony in LA on February 17.

The five films nominated for Best Feature are Nimona (pictured, Annapurna Animation for Netflix), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures Animation), Suzume

(CoMix Wave Films/STORY), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies) and The Boy and the Heron (Studio Ghibli, distributed by GKIDS).

Nimona received a total of nine nominations—the most for a single project—in categories including Best Writing (Robert Baird, Lloyd Taylor), Best Direction (Nick Bruno, Troy Quane) and Best Production Design (Aidan Sugano, Jeff Turley). Based on ND Stevenson’s (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) same-name graphic novel, this CG-animated sci-fi/fantasy adventure is about a knight who has to team up with one of the shapeshifting “monsters” he’s sworn to destroy. Netflix launched Nimona in June, and it very quickly racked up 1.8 million hours of watchtime, according to the streamer’s viewership report for January to June 2023.

Nominations in the Best Feature—Independent category, for projects with a smaller distribution footprint than major studio releases, went to Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia (Folivari, Mélusine Productions/Studio Canal, distributed by GKIDS), Four Souls of Coyote (Cinemon Entertainment), Robot Dreams (Arcadia Motion Pictures), The Inventor (Curiosity Studios) and White Plastic Sky (SALTO Films/Artichoke).

TV episodes from Batwheels (Warner Bros. Animation), Ghee Happy (Ghee Happy Studio), Playdate with Winnie the Pooh (Oddbot), StoryBots: Answer Time (JibJab Bros Studios for Netflix) and The Creature Cases (Silvergate Media/TeamTO/Choice/Provisions/Netflix) were shortlisted for this year’s Best TV/Media—Preschool award.

And Best TV/Media—Children nods went to episodes of CURSES! (DreamWorks Animation), Hilda (Hilda Productions/Silvergate Media Company/Netflix/Mercury Filmworks), Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Flying Bark Productions/Disney Television Animation), My Dad the Bounty Hunter (Netflix) and Shape Island (Bix Pix Entertainment, in association with Apple).

Last year, Netflix scored 50 nominations for its content at the Annies, and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio won Best Animated Feature. The full list of this year’s nominations is up on the Annie Awards website.

Photo courtesy of Netflix

 

By Ryan Tuchow/kidscreen

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