'Coco,' 'Rick and Morty,' and 'Samurai Jack' among Annie winners

"The animated films and television shows had their own awards ceremony, the Annie Awards.  I'll be writing about them next."  That's what I wrote yesterday, so without any further ado, here are the winners from Deadline Hollywood's ‘Coco’ Dominates Annies; ‘Rick And Morty’ Tops TV: Complete Winners List.

The world of animation bowed before Coco tonight at the 45th annual Annie Awards from UCLA’s Royce Hall. The Day of the Dead-themed Disney/Pixar toon pummeled the competition, going 11-for-13 in its nominated categories including Best Animated Feature. If it wasn’t clear who the Oscar front-runner was yes, it is now.

Since I like videos, here is Wochit Entertainment's retelling of this paragraph with the latest box office.

The animated blockbuster Coco triumphed at the 45th annual Annie Awards Saturday night. It won nearly every category in which it was nominated, including Best Picture. Pixar Animation Studios’ 19th feature film had an amazing run, in terms of box office earnings and awards season success. The movie pulled in more than 72 million dollars in its 5-day opening frame over the extended Thanksgiving weekend. The film has a worldwide take of more than 682 million dollars.

From Entertainment Weekly, the other awards it earned were Outstanding Achievement, Directing – Animated Feature Production, Outstanding Achievement, Writing – Feature Production, Outstanding Achievement, Production Design – Feature Production, Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation – Feature Production, Outstanding Achievement, Character Design – Feature Production, Outstanding Achievement, Music – Feature Production, Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects – Feature Production, Outstanding Achievement, Editorial – Feature Production, Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting – Feature Production, and Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding – Feature/Broadcast Production.  I see 11 wins, but comparing with Animation World Network's list of nominees, I don't see two categories in which it lost.  What does show up are two categories in which it was double-nominated and one of the nominees won, so I count that as a sweep for the movie.  As I wrote in 'The Shape of Water' and 'Blade Runner 2049' lead speculative fiction nominees at the Oscars, "'Coco' has this award in the bag.  It had better hope the bag isn't wet."  I can officially say the bag is dry.


Only one other feature won and that was in a category for which "Coco" was not eligible.  From Deadline Hollywood:

The top category was split three years ago with the addition of the Best Independent Animated feature category. This year’s champ was Cartoon Saloon’s The Breadwinner, the tale of a young girl growing up in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. It came in with 10 nominations but went home with only the one.

If the bag had been wet, I'd say this would be the movie most likely to beat "Coco," but I'm less worried now.

I have three more movie awards to mention.  First, "Dear Basketball" won Best Animated Short Subject.  I now know the favorite in that category and expect to see Kobe Bryant on the stage next month, although it could be upstaged by "Revolting Rhymes," which won Best Animated Special Production.  Next, "War for the Planet of the Apes" won Character Animation in a Live Action Production.  I think I know which movie has the animators' vote for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars.

Follow over the jump for the other winners.

On the TV side, the top prize went to Rick and Morty, which recently set ratings records for Adult Swim. The series from Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, which follows a sociopathic genius scientist who drags his inherently timid grandson on insanely dangerous adventures across the universe, also won for TV writing.

Add this to its Critics' Choice Television Awards and it looks like "Rick and Morty" is getting the respect from the professionals it deserves.


Even though it won the top honors for television animation, "Rick and Morty" didn't win the most awards of any television program.  Entertainment Weekly lists the shows with that distinction as "TV’s Disney Mickey Mouse and Samurai Jack (with three trophies each)."  "Samurai Jack" won Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production, Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production, and Outstanding Achievement for Editorial in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production.  Those join its four juried Emmy Awards.  "Disney Mickey Mouse" earned trophies for Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production, Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production, and Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production.  Congratulations to both!

Finally, here are the rest of the winners.  In television, "Octonauts" won Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children, We Bare Bears won Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Children, "Trollhunters" won Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production, and "SpongeBob SquarePants" won Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production.  In other categories, "June" won Best Animated Television/Broadcast Commercial and "Cuphead" won Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Video Game.

The next award show I plan on writing about will be the WGA Awards on the 11th.  In between, expect more reality.