Disney films among top nominees for Annie Awards

With 10 nominations, Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” leads the pack of hopefuls leading into Saturday evening’s virtual presentation of the 49th annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animated entertainment from the last year.

“Raya” is nominated for best feature, along with another Walt Disney Animation Studios production, “Encanto.” “Luca,” by Disney-owned Pixar Animation Studios, is also nominated in the top category, along with Illumination’s “Sing 2” and Sony Pictures Animation’s “The Mitchells vs. The Machines.”

For best independent feature, nominees are “Belle,” “Flee,” “Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko,” “Pompo the Cinephile” and “The Summit of the Gods.”

On the small screen, competing for best general audience show will be “Arcane,” “Bob’s Burgers,” “Love, Death + Robots,” “Star Wars: Visions” and “Tuca & Bertie.” Nominated for best children’s show are “Amphibia,” “Carmen Sandiego,” “Dug Days,” “Maya and the Three” and “We the People.”

Netflix dwarfed all production houses in the nominations, collecting more than 50 nominations overall, well ahead of Disney’s 29 nods.

The Annie Awards, presented by ASIFA-Hollywood, were originally scheduled to be presented Feb. 26 at UCLA’s Royce Hall, but due to surging COVID-19 cases, the animation society opted to switch to a virtual format. The 7 p.m. awards show will stream online at https://annieawards.org/watch-it-live.

Tom Kenny — best known as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants — will be among the presenters during the show, along with Guillermo del Toro and Diane Warren.

During the event, the Winsor McCay Award for career contributions to the art of animation will be presented to Disney animator Ruben Aquino, computer animation pioneer Lillian Schwartz and Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki. Renzo and Sayoko Kinoshita, founders of the Hiroshima International Animation Festival, will receive the June Foray Award for significant charitable impact on the animation industry.

Glen Vilppu, an artist/author who has trained animation professionals internationally, will receive a special achievement award.

Click here for a full list of award nominees.