Annie Awards: ‘The Mitchells Vs. The Machines’, ‘Arcane’ Dominate; ‘Flee’ Takes Best Indie Film

Netflix had a big night at the 49th annual Annie Awards on Saturday, with the streamer’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines on the feature film side and the video game adaptation Arcane on the TV side dominating the major categories.

Mitchells, from Sony Pictures Animation, won Best Feature among a film-side-leading eight Annies, presented by ASIFA-Hollywood honoring the year’s best in animated fare across movies, TV and video games.

Arcane, the League of Legends game adaptation from Riot Games and Fortiche Production, led all winners with nine trophies overall including for General Production, TV. It won in each of the categories for which it was nominated. The series, which debuted in November and has already been renewed for a Season 2, is set in the utopian region of League of Legends realms Piltover and the oppressed underground of Zaun It follows the origins of popular League champions sisters Jinx and Vi as they seek to reunite.

Ella Purnell, who voices Jinx, won tonight for Voice Acting, TV. Abbi Jacobson won on the film side for Mitchells.

The Mitchells‘ victory in the marquee Best Feature race makes it a front-runner position leading up to the Oscars next month. Last year, eventual Animated Feature Oscar winner Soul from Pixar won the top Annie, the 14th time in 20 years the society and the Academy have matched their top pics.

An animation still showing Amin in 'Flee'

“Flee” Neon

Another Oscar hopeful, Neon/Participant’s Danish movie Flee, which is nominated in the Animated, Documentary and International Feature Oscar categories, won the International Feature Annie tonight.

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Encanto won three Annies tonight — for Music, where it is also an Oscar nom; Character Animation; and Storyboarding — after coming in with nine noms. The same studio’s Raya and the Last Dragon, which led all titles this year with 10 nominations, was shut out, as was Pixar’s Luca which had eight noms coming in.

It was Arcane, in the end, that was mentioned most tonight, taking the big TV categories that also included Writing, Animated Effects, Character Animation, Character Design, Production Design, Storyboarding and Directing.

Netflix had a total of 20 wins tonight in the virtual ceremony, which featured presenters Tom Kenny, Guillermo del Toro, Diane Warren, Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Mamoru Hosoda, Charlie Saxton, Pierre Perffiel and Lilly Singh and John Leguizamo among others.

Among the honorary winners, Renzo & Sayoko Kinoshita, founders of the Hiroshima International Animation Festival, were presented with the June Foray Award for significant and benevolent or charitable impact. The Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement went to Python Foundation, while artist and author Glen Vilppu received the Special Achievement Award recognizing the unique and significant impact on the art and industry of animation.

Other honorary awards presented tonight included Ruben Aquino, Lillian Schwartz and Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki receiving the Winsor McCay Award for career contributions to the art of animation. The Certificate of Merit for service to the art and industry will be presented to Evan Vernon.

Here’s the full list of winners:

Best Feature

The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix

Independent Feature

Flee
Neon, Final Cut For Real, Sun Creature, Vivement Lundi !, MostFilm, Mer Film, VICE, Left Hand Films, Participant

Directing, Feature

The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Directors: Mike Rianda, Jeff Rowe

Directing, TV

Arcane
Episode: The Monster You Created
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Directors: Pascal Charue, Arnaud Delord, Barthelemy Maunoury

Storyboarding, Feature

Encanto
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Storyboard Artist: Jason Hand

Storyboarding, TV

Arcane
Episode: When These Walls Come Tumbling Down
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Storyboard Artist: Simon Andriveau

General TV Production

Arcane
Episode: When These Walls Come Tumbling Down
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix

Children’s TV Production

Maya and the Three
Episode: The Sun and the Moon
A Netflix Series

Preschool TV Production

Ada Twist, Scientist
Episode: Twelve Angry Birds
Laughing Wild, Higher Ground Productions, Wonder Worldwide, Netflix

Writing, Feature

The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Writers: Mike Rianda, Jeff Rowe

Writing, TV

Arcane
Episode: The Monster You Created
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Writers: Christian Linke, Alex Yee

Voice Acting, Feature

The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
As ‘Katie Mitchell’: Abbi Jacobson

Voice Acting, TV

Arcane
Episode: When These Walls Come Tumbling Down
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
As ‘Jinx’: Ella Purnell

Editing, Feature

The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Editorial Team: Greg Levitan, Collin Wightman, T.J. Young, Tony Ferdinand, Bret Allen

Editing, TV

What If…?
Episode: What If…Ultron Won?
Marvel Studios
Editorial Team: Joel Fisher, Graham Fisher, Sharia Davis, Basuki Juwono, Adam Spieckermann

Animated Effects, Feature

The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
FX Team: Christopher Logan, Man-Louk Chin, Devdatta Nerurkar, Pav Grochola, Filippo Maccari

Animated Effects, TV

Arcane
Episode: Oil and Water
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
FX Team: Guillaume Degroote, Aurélien Ressencourt, Martin Touzé, Frédéric Macé, Jérôme Dupré

Character Animation, Feature

Encanto
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Animator: Dave Hardin

Character Animation, TV

Arcane
Episode: The Monster You Created
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Animator: Léa Chervet

Character Animation, Live Action

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Marvel Entertainment, Weta Digital
Animation Team: Karl Rapley, Sebastian Trujillo, Richard John Moore, Merlin Bela Wassilij Maertz, Pascal Raimbault

Character Animation, Video Game

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Insomniac Games
Animation Team: Insomniac Games Animation Team

Character Design, Feature

The Mitchells vs. The Machines
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Designer: Lindsey Olivares

Character Design, TV

Arcane
Episode: Some Mysteries Better Left Unsolved
A Riot Games and Fortiche Production for Netflix
Designer: Evan Monteiro

Music, Feature

Encanto
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Score: Germaine Franco, Lin-Manuel Miranda

Music, TV

Maya and the Three
Episode: The Sun and the Moon
A Netflix Series
Score: Tim Davies, Gustavo Santaolalla

Sponsored Production

A Future Begins
Nexus Studios