Five Things to Know Before the Annie Awards

Focus Features' "ParaNorman"

The animation community will hand out awards in 30 competitive categories during the International Animated Film Society’s 40th annual Annie Awards, Saturday evening at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. Here are some things to know before the event:

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There's no clear front-runner in feature animation.

Of the five Oscar nominees for best animated feature, Brave and Wreck-It Ralph have 10 Annie nominations each; ParaNorman has eight nominations; and Frankenweenie and The Pirates! Band of Misfits earned five nominations each. All five are nominated for the Annie for best animated feature, along with Hotel Transylvania and Rise of the Guardians.

ParaNorman and Wreck-It Ralph have nods for directing.

ParaNorman and Wreck-It Ralph are the only two of the Oscar-nominated animated features to have received an Annie nomination for best direction. The helmers of Oscar nominees Brave, Frankenweenie and The Pirates! Band of Misfits were passed over for an Annie nomination in that category.

Maggie Simpson takes on Paperman in the shorts category.

Two of the films nominated for animated short Annies are also Oscar contenders in the same category. They are Maggie Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare’ from GracieFilms and Paperman from Disney.

Richard Parker will compete against The Hulk.

Some of the movies competing for the VFX Oscar are among the Annie nominees. The category for character animation in a live-action film includes two teams from Rhythm & Hues -- one that animated the Bengal tiger and one that animated the orangutan in Life of Pi -- and a team representing ILM for The Avengers. A team from The Avengers is also among the nominees for animated effects in a live-action production.

There’s no boycott.

Some haven’t forgotten that the Disney/Pixar camp boycotted the 2011 Annie Awards over voting procedures. Revisions were made to the system, and Disney and Pixar returned last year for the 2012 event.