DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon swept the 38th annual Annie Awards in the animated feature categories, winning 10 trophies including the top award for best animated feature at the Saturday night ceremony, which was boycotted by the rival Disney/Pixar camp.
DWA’s Kung Fu Panda Holiday topped the television categories with five awards.
Pixar did win one award, best animated short subject, Day & Night, which is also nominated for an Oscar.
The Annies, which the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood presented at UCLA’s Royce Hall, also honored Alice in Wonderland for character animation in a live-action production in its feature categories.
A critical and box office success, Dragon was a top 10 performer in the 2010 domestic box office, and won all three of the awards given to an animated feature earlier this week at the Visual Effects Society Awards.
An ongoing controversy has surrounded the Annies. In August, Disney and Pixar announced they would no longer participate in the annual awards because of questions about voting procedures, with Disney contended had favored DreamWorks in recent years.
As a result, this year Disney/Pixar didn’t submit, screen, campaign for, or attend — at least as a group — the Annie Awards. Still, both Pixar’s Toy Story 3, which is a best picture Oscar nominee and is also considered the frontrunner to win the Oscar for animated feature, and Disney’s Tangled were both nominated for the Annie for best animated feature, earning three and two nominations, respectively.
ASIFA-Hollywood president Antran Manoogian explained that even if studios or individuals from a film do not submit that film, the nominating committees had the latitude to determine their own nominations. He also said that while anyone can join ASIFA, only animation professionals are eligible to vote, per a new rule that went into effect for this year”s awards competition.
Two years ago, questions about the voting were raised when DWA’s Kung Fu Panda swept the Annies feature categories, winning ten trophies and shutting out Pixar’s Wall-E, which claimed the Oscar for best animated feature. Last year, though, Pixar’s Up won the top Annie.
A complete list of the 38th annual Annie Award winners can be viewed here.
