Annie Nominations Indicate Oscar Favorites

Nominations for the 41st Annual Annie Awards have been announced, and a predictable bunch of films are leading the way. Despicable Me 2, Monsters University, and Frozen pick up nominations in a majority of their eligible categories, while other films like The Croods are also widely recognized. Perhaps we should not have forgotten about such an early release, particularly an animation as the Oscar winners are usually out in May. Standard campaign rules do not seem to apply to this category.

So what are the Annies?

The Annie Awards are an annual recognition of achievements in animation across television and film, with voters comprised of “ASIFA-Hollywood members who are 1) animation professionals and 2) who have been recognized for their work in a creative capacity on a qualified production, shall be eligible to vote in all categories“. What this means is that voters are invited, thus control is kept entirely within the hands of existing members, rather like the Academy itself. This of course means nothing, except when we look at the patterns and similarities among the nominees.

Why does Oscar care about Annie?

An Annie Award is a prestigious recognition of accomplishments in animated film making, and there are strong parallels between this and the Oscars. The Annie Awards are held at the beginning of February, leaving plenty of time to impact ballot papers. Conspiracy theory? Just have a look at the list of both the Annie and Oscar for Best Animated Feature:

A majority of years the awards are identical, and the winners of one were at least nominated for the other, so if there is any award that can be used as an indicator for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, it’s the Annie Awards. The nominees for both are far from surprising, but it would be terribly interesting if The Croods was to pick up some awards. This would seriously boost its Oscar hopes, but in reality the main contenders are definitely Monsters University and Frozen. More analysis of the Oscar longlist coming soon.

The 41st Annual Awards are being held on Saturday February 1st 2014 in Hollywood. Join Only Oscar for a full analysis of the winners and how this impacts the Oscar race.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL LIST OF NOMINATIONS