Boxtrolls Tops 42nd Annie Award Nominations
December 2, 2014

Boxtrolls Tops 42nd Annie Award Nominations

The International Animated Film Society has released the names of the nominees for the 42nd Annual Annie Awards, which will be held at UCLA’s Royce Hall on January 31, 2015. LAIKA’s stop-motion film The Boxtrolls  received the most nominations, followed by DreamWorks’  How to Train Your Dragon 2  and Disney’s  Big Hero 6 .

ASIFA-Hollywood’s Board of Directors has also selected three recipients for the Winsor McCay award for career contributions to the art of animation — Didier Brunner, Don Lusk, and Lee Mendelson. The June Foray Award for charitable impact on the art and industry of animation will be given to Charles Solomon.

Meanwhile, DreamWorks Animation’s Apollo Software will be honored with the Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement, and The Walt Disney Family Museum will receive a Special Achievement Award in recognition of its unique impact on the medium. 

The nominees are:

Best Animated Feature

Big Hero 6 (Disney)

Cheatin’ (Plymptoons)

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (DreamWorks)

Song of the Sea (GKIDS/Cartoon Saloon)

The Book of Life (Reel FX)

The Boxtrolls (Focus Features/Laika)

The LEGO Movie (Warner Bros.)

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (GKIDS/Studio Ghibli)


Best Animated Special Production

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (Voyager Pictures LLC)

Dawn of the Dragon Racers (DreamWorks)

How Murray Saved Christmas (Universal Television)

Polariffic (Bent Image Lab)

Toy Story That Time Forgot (Pixar)


Best Animated Short Subject

Coda (62 George Street)

Duet (Glen Keane Productions)

Feast (Disney)

Inside Homer – The Simpsons Couch Gag (Episode #549)

(Acme Filmworks)

Me and My Moulton (National Film Board of Canada)

Silent (Creative Artists Agency)

The Dam Keeper (Tonko House LLC)

The Raven (Moonbot Studios)


Best Animated Television/Broadcast Commercial

Citizen M: “Swan Song” (Stoopid Buddy Stoodios)

Flight of the Stories (Aardman Animations)

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (Plastic Wax)


Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children

Doc McStuffins (Disney Channel / Disney XD)

Peter Rabbit (Nickelodeon Animation Studio)

Tumble Leaf (Amazon Studios) 

Wallykazam! (Nickelodeon) 

Zack & Quack (Zodiak Kids)


Best Animated Television/Broadcast Production For a Children’s Audience

Adventure Time (Cartoon Network)

Gravity Falls (Disney Television Animation)

Legend of Korra (Nickelodeon)

Over The Garden Wall (Cartoon Network)

Wander Over Yonder (Disney)


Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production

Archer (FX Networks)

Back To Backspace (Cartoon Network Studios)

Bob’s Burgers (Bento Box Entertainment)

Rick and Morty (Starburns Industries, Inc.)

Mike Tyson Mysteries (Warner Bros. Animation)

Regular Show (Cartoon Network Studios)

The Simpsons (Fox Television)


Best Video Game

Forza Horizon 2 (Microsoft – Turn 10 Studios)

Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Ubisoft)

Child of Light (Ubisoft)


Best Student Film

After School (Junyi Xiao)

Dead Over Heels (Jose Matheu)

El Coyote (Javier Barboza)

Frog’s Legs (Katie Tamboer)

My Big Brother (Jason Rayner)

Tiny Nomad (Toniko Pantoja)


Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in an Animated Production

Big Hero 6 (Disney) Michael Kaschalk, Peter DeMund, David Hutchins, Henrik Falt, John Kosnik

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (DreamWorks) James Jackson, Lucas Janin, Tobin Jones, Baptiste Van Opstal, Jason Mayer

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (DreamWorks) Fangwei Lee, Krzysztof Rost, Jihyun Yoon, Robert Chen

Penguins of Madagascar (DreamWorks) Mitul Patel, Nicolas Delbecq, Santosh Khedkar, Yash Argawal

The Book of Life (Reel FX) Augusto Schillaci, Erich Turner, Bill Konersman, Chris Rasch, Joseph Burnette

The Boxtrolls (Focus/Laika) Rick Sevy, Peter Vickery, Kent Estep, Peter Stuart, Ralph Procida

The LEGO Movie (WB) Jayandera Danappal, Matt Ebb, Christian Epunan Hernandez, Danielle Brooks, Raphael Gadot


Outstanding Achievement for Animated Effects in a Live Action Production

Edge of Tomorrow (Sony Pictures Imageworks) Steve Avoujageli, Atsushi Ikarashi, Pawel Grochola, Paul Waggoner, Viktor Lundqvist

Noah (Industrial Light & Magic) Raul Essig, Karin Cooper, Rick Hankins, Owen Calouro

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Imageworks) Charles-Felix Chabert, Daniel La Chapelle, Spencer Lueders, Klaus Seitschek, Chris Messineo

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Weta Digital) Areito Echevarria, Andreas Soderstrom, Ronnie Menahem, Christoph Sprenger, Kevin Romond

Transformers: Age of Extinction (ILM) Michael Balog, Jim Van Allen, Rick Hankins, John Hansen

X-Men: Days of Future Past (Digital Domain) Jeremy Hampton, Daniel Stern, Edmond Smith III, Hiroshi Tsubokawa, Daniel Jenkins


Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production

Toy Story That Time Forgot (Pixar) Don Crum

Toy Story That Time Forgot (Pixar) Carlo Vogele

Toy Story That Time Forgot (Pixar) Ken Kim

Tumble Leaf (Amazon) Michael Granberry

Tumble Leaf (Amazon) Teresa Drilling

Wander Over Yonder (Disney Television Animation) Justin Nichols


Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (DreamWorks) Fabio Lignini

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (DreamWorks) Steven “Shaggy” Hornby

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (DreamWorks) Thomas Grummt

Penguins of Madagascar (DreamWorks) Ravi Kamble

The Boxtrolls (Focus/Laika) Travis Knight

The Boxtrolls (Focus/Laika) Malcolm Lamont

The Boxtrolls (Focus/Laika) Jason Stalman


Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Weta) Daniel Barrett, Paul Story, Eteuati Tema, Alessandro Bonora, Dejan Momcilovic

Guardians of the Galaxy (Framestore) Kevin Spruce, Dale Newton, Sidney Kombo, Chris Mullins, Brad Silby

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Weta) Eric Reynolds, David Clayton, Andreja Vuckovic, Guillaume Francois, Gios Johnston


Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Video Game

Assassin’s Creed Unity (Ubisoft) Mike Mennillo

Don’t Starve: Console Edition (Klei Entertainment Inc.)

Child Of Light (Ubisoft) Alex Drouin


Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production

Disney Mickey Mouse (Disney) Andy Suriano

Wander Over Yonder (Disney) Benjamin Balistreri

Welcome to the Wayne (Nickelodeon) Zac Gorman


Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

Big Hero 6 (Disney) Shiyoon Kim, Jin Kim

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (DreamWorks) Timothy Lamb, Joe Moshier

Penguins of Madagascar (DreamWorks) Craig Kellman, Joe Moshier, Stevie Lewis, Todd Kurosawa

Rio 2 (Blue Sky Studios) Sang Jun Lee, Jason Sadler, José Manuel Fernandez Oli

Song of the Sea (GKIDS/Cartoon Saloon) Tomm Moore, Marie Thorhauge, Sandra Anderson, Rosa Ballester Cabo

The Book of Life (Reel FX) Paul Sullivan, Sandra Equihua, Jorge R. Gutierrez

The Boxtrolls (Focus/Laika) Mike Smith


Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television / Broadcast Production

Adventure Time (Cartoon Network) Yuasa Masaaki, Eunyoung Choi

Archer (FX) Bryan Fordney

Bob’s Burgers (Bento Box) Jennifer Coyle & Bernard Derriman

Disney Mickey Mouse (Disney) Aaron Springer

Gravity Falls (Disney) Rob Renzetti

Over The Garden Wall (Cartoon Network) Robert Alvarez, Ken Bruce, Larry Leichliter

The Simpsons (The Simpsons) Matthew Nastuk

Wander Over Yonder (Disney) David Thomas


Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production

Big Hero 6 (Disney) Don Hall & Chris Williams

Cheatin’ (Plymptoons) Bill Plympton

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (DreamWorks) Dean DeBlois

Song of the Sea (GKIDS/Cartoon Saloon) Tomm Moore

The Book of Life (Reel FX) Jorge R. Gutierrez

The Boxtrolls (Focus/Laika) Anthony Stacchi & Graham Annable

The LEGO Movie (WB) Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, Directors; Chris McKay, Co-Director

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (GKIDS/Ghibli) Isao Takahata