It must be December, because lists of nominations, top tens, and critics' superlatives are officially upon us. Today, ASIFA-Hollywood dropped their bloated slate of nominees for the 41st Annie Awards, and the Golden Satellite nominations were announced. If those two groups don't quite have you titillated (neither of them move the needle much in terms of influence on the awards race), then look forward to the coming days when we can expect announcements from the New York critics, LA critics, and the National Board of Review.
But back to the Annies...
In the feature film categories, Monsters University and the likely Oscar frontrunner Frozen lead the way with ten nominations. Following with nine are The Croods and Despicable Me 2 (no, I'm not inclined to count the latter's short film Puppy or its nominated TV commercial towards its total).
Speaking of shorts, the only ones to pop up both here and on the Academy's shortlist are Disney's Get A Horse! (the presumed frontrunner), the NFB's Gloria Victoria (a fringe contender if ever there was one), and the BBC's Room on the Broom (from the makers of the 2011 nominated short The Gruffalo). So make of that what you will.
Best Animated Feature
- A Letter to Momo - GKIDS
- Despicable Me 2 - Universal Pictures
- Ernest & Celestine - GKIDS
- Frozen - Walt Disney Animation Studios
- Monsters University - Pixar Animation Studios
- The Croods - DreamWorks Animation
- The Wind Rises - The Walt Disney Studios
Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated Feature Production
- Chris Sanders, Kirk DeMicco - The Croods - DreamWorks Animation
- David Soren - Turbo - DreamWorks Animation
- Chris Wedge - Epic - Blue Sky Studios
- Benjamin Renner, Vincent Patar, Stéphane Aubier - Ernest & Celestine - GKIDS
- Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee - Frozen - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated Feature Production
- Daniel Pennac - Ernest & Celestine - GKIDS
- Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird, Dan Scanlon - Monsters University - Pixar Animation Studios
- Miyazaki Hayao – The Wind Rises - The Walt Disney Studios
- Jennifer Lee - Frozen - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Outstanding Achievement, Animated Effects in an Animated Production
- Alen Lai, David Quirus, Diego Garzon Sanchez, Ilan Gabai - Epic - Blue Sky Studios
- David Jones - Dragons: Defenders of Berk - DreamWorks Animation
- Joshua Jenny, Jason Johnston, Matthew Wong, Eric Froemling, Enrique Vila - Monsters University - Pixar Animation Studios
- Jeff Budsberg, Andre Le Blanc, Louis Flores, Jason Mayer - The Croods - DreamWorks Animation
- Greg Gladstone, Nikita Pavlov, Allen Ruilova, Matt Titus, Can Yuksel - Turbo - DreamWorks Animation
- Jonathan Paquin, Brian Goodwin, Gray Horsfield, Mathieu Chardonnet, Adrien Toupet - Man Of Steel - Weta Digital
- Ben O’Brien, Karin Cooper, Lee Uren, Chris Root - Star Trek: Into Darkness - Industrial Light & Magic
- Dan Pearson, Jay Cooper, Jeff Grebe, Amelia Chenoweth - Star Trek: Into Darkness - Industrial Light & Magic
- Michael Balog, Ryan Hopkins, Patrick Conran, Florian Witzel - Pacific Rim - Industrial Light & Magic
Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Feature Production
- Thom Roberts - Epic - Blue Sky Studios
- Jonathan Del Val – Despicable Me 2 - Universal Pictures
- Jakob Jensen - The Croods - DreamWorks Animation
- John Chun Chiu Lee - Monsters University - Pixar Animation Studios
- Kitaro Kosaka – The Wind Rises - The Walt Disney Studios
- Tony Smeed - Frozen - Walt Disney Animation Studios
- Patrick Imbert - Ernest & Celestine - GKIDS
Outstanding Achievement, Character Animation in a Live Action Production
- Jeff Capogreco, Jedrzej Wojtowicz, Kevin Estey, Alessandro Bonora, Gino Acevedo - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Gollum - Weta Digital
- Dave Clayton, Simeon Duncombe, Jung Min Chan, Matthew Cioffi, Guillame Francois - The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Goblin King - Weta Digital
- Hal Hickel, Chris Lentz, Derrick Carlin, Steve Rawlins, Kyle Winkelman - Pacific Rim - Industrial Light & Magic
Outstanding Achievement, Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
- Carter Goodrich, Takao Noguchi, Shane Prigmore - The Croods - DreamWorks Animation
- Sylvain Deboissy, Shannon Tindle - Turbo - DreamWorks Animation
- Craig Kellman – Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 - Sony Pictures Animation
- Chris Sasaki - Monsters University - Pixar Animation Studios
- Christophe Lourdelet - A Monster in Paris - Shout! Factory
- Eric Guillon – Despicable Me 2 - Universal Pictures
- Bill Schwab - Frozen - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated Feature Production
- Alan Silvestri - The Croods - DreamWorks Animation
- Henry Jackman - Turbo - DreamWorks Animation
- Mark Mothersbaugh – Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 - Sony Pictures Animation
- Heitor Pereira, Pharrell Williams – Despicable Me 2 - Universal Pictures
- Danny Elfman - Epic - Blue Sky Studios
- Randy Newman - Monsters University - Pixar Animation Studios
- Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Christophe Beck - Frozen - Walt Disney Animation Studios
- Dominic Lewis - Free Birds - Reel FX
Outstanding Achievement, Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
- Christophe Lautrette, Paul Duncan, Dominique R. Louis - The Croods - DreamWorks Animation
- Yarrow Cheney, Eric Guillon – Despicable Me 2 - Universal Pictures
- Michael Knapp, Greg Couch, William Joyce - Epic - Blue Sky Studios
- Zaza, Zyk - Ernest & Celestine - GKIDS
- Ricky Nierva, Robert Kondo, Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi - Monsters University - Pixar Animation Studios
- Michael Giaimo, Lisa Keene, David Womersley - Frozen - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
- Steven MacLeod - The Croods - DreamWorks Animation
- Eric Favela – Despicable Me 2 - Universal Pictures
- Dean Kelly - Monsters University - Pixar Animation Studios
- Jason Hand - Planes - Disneytoon Studios
- John Ripa - Frozen - Walt Disney Animation Studios
- Paul Giamatti as the voice of Chet - Turbo - DreamWorks Animation
- Terry Crews as the voice of Earl – Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 - Sony Pictures Animation
- Kristen Wiig as the voice of Lucy – Despicable Me 2 - Universal Pictures
- Steve Carell as the voice of Gru – Despicable Me 2 - Universal Pictures
- Pierre Coffin as the voice of Minions - Despicable Me 2 - Universal Pictures
- Billy Crystal as the voice of Mike – Monsters University – Pixar Animation Studios
- Josh Gad as the voice of Olaf - Frozen - Walt Disney Animation Studios
- Darren Holmes - The Croods - DreamWorks Animation
- James Ryan - Turbo - DreamWorks Animation
- Fabienne Alvarez-Giro - Ernest & Celestine - GKIDS
- Greg Snyder, Gregory Amundson, Steve Bloom - Monsters University - Pixar Animation Studios
- Jeff Draheim - Frozen - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Best Animated Short Subject
- Despicable Me 2 - Puppy - Universal Pictures
- Get A Horse! - Walt Disney Animation Studios
- Gloria Victoria - National Film Board of Canada
- My Mom is an Airplane - Acme Filmworks
- The Numberlys - Moonbot Studios
Best Animated Special Production
- Chipotle Scarecrow - Moonbot Studios
- Listening Is an Act of Love - StoryCorps
- Room on the Broom - Magic Light Pictures
- Toy Story OF TERROR! - Pixar Animation Studios
