God, how I wish I was going to the Annies this weekend.
“What’s the Annies?” you ask. Surely, you jest. I mean, you being the savvy JHM reader that you are, you MUST already know about the Annies. The Animation community’s annual equivalent of the Academy Awards? Right?
Presented by the International Animated Film Society / ASIFA Hollywood, the 31st Annual Annies Awards will be held this coming Saturday night at the Alex Theater in Glendale, CA. And you can bet your ask-me-no-questions-I’ll-tell-you-no-lies that a lot of eyes in Hollywood are going to be closely watching what happens at this year’s event.
Why for? Well, ‘way back when, it used to be that the Annies were this relatively cozy little affair. Where animation professionals got together for one night to honor one another, recognize the industry’s pioneers … as well as have a swell old time eating, drinking and schmoozing.
Well, a year or so back, Hollywood’s attitude toward the Annies began to change. Once that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences added a “Best Animated Feature Film” category to the Oscars, industry insiders began to pay very close attention to the Annies as … Well … sort of as an indicator of the way the animators who were voting members of the Academy might be leaning.
Certainly, over the past two years, the Annies have been right on the money when it comes to predicting which feature length animated cartoon will be recognized by the Academy as that year’s “Best Animated Feature Film.”
On November 10th, 2001, ASIFA-Hollywood singled out “Shrek” as the “Outstanding Achievement in An Animated Theatrical Feature” for that year. Four months later — at the 74th Annual Academy Awards — this very same Dreamworks film was awarded the very first “Best Animated Feature Film” Oscar ever given out by the AMPAS.
On February 1st, 2003, members of ASIFA-Hollywood selected Hayao Miyazaki’s masterwork, “Spirited Away” as that year’s “Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature.” Sure enough, seven weeks later, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences again followed the Annies’ lead by presenting this highly acclaimed Studio Ghibli release with the “Best Animated Feature Film” award.
So — given the pattern that’s obviously begun to emerge here — Oscar handicappers (In much the same way that Hollywood insiders now use the Golden Globes as a early indication of the way Academy voters might be leaning when it comes to major award categories like “Best Picture,” “Best Director,” etc.) now look to the Annies for sort of an oracle. A way to see into the minds of the animators who are also voting members of the Academy about which new animated features they might be thinking are Oscar worthy.
Just so you know, here are all the nominees for the 31st Annual ASIFA-Hollywood Annies’ “Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature” category:
“Brother Bear” — Walt Disney Pictures
“Finding Nemo” — Pixar Animation Studios
“Looney Tunes: Back In Action” — Warner Bros.
“Millennium Actress” — Go Fish Pictures
“Triplets of Belleville” — Les Armateurs
Mind you, the nominating committee of the 76th Academy Awards only thought that three of the new animated features that appeared theatrically in 2003 were Oscar-worthy. And the nominees are:
“Brother Bear” — Walt Disney Pictures
“Finding Nemo” — Pixar Animation Studios
“Triplets of Belleville” — Les Armateurs
Of course, the smart money is on “Finding Nemo” taking both the Annie as well as the Oscar when it comes to this year’s “Best Animated Feature Film.” But there’s also talk that the “Triplets of Belleville” may cause an upset.
And — speaking of causing an upset — one of the other reasons that the media has been focusing its attention on this year’s Annie Awards is “Destino”‘s nomination in the “Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short Subject” category. Should this Walt Disney Pictures -produced short win, “Destino”‘s executive producer — Roy Disney — is expected to take the stage.
And then … Well, all eyes will be on Walt’s nephew to see whether or not he uses his moment in the spotlight to speak out about his efforts to oust Michael Eisner as head of the Walt Disney Company.
And — if Roy uses the Annies as a golden opportunity to speak out against Michael — you can bet that his comments at the Alex Theater this coming Saturday night will be thought of as just a “coming attraction” of what Disney might possibly say. Should “Destino” actually win for “Best Animated Short Film” at this year’s Academy Awards.
Of course, some wags are saying that this is the real reason that ABC Television now wants to impose a 5 second delay on its February 29th broadcast of the 76th Annual Academy Awards. Not out of concern that some performer might suddenly pull a “Janet Jackson” and flash something offensive at the viewers at home. But — rather — because Disney Company management is reportedly extremely concerned about what Roy Disney might say, should he actually make it up onto the stage at Hollywood’s Kodak Theater.
So — in the event that “Destino” really does win this year’s Academy Award for “Best Animated Short” film and Roy Disney does step up to the microphone and starts telling 80 million television viewers worldwide what he actually thinks of Michael Eisner — ABC execs would have the option of censoring Roy’s comments. So as not to embarrass Disney’s Big Cheese.
One hopes that it won’t really come down to something like that. But — if ABC does suddenly comes down with a case of “Technical Difficulties” at the very moment that Roy steps up to the mike — Hey … You can’t say that I didn’t warn you.
You want to know the other reason that I wish that I was attending this year’s Annies? Think how great it would be to be able to pick the brains of the Pixar guys who’ll be in attendance at this year’s event. To hear what these guys have to say about Steve Jobs’ somewhat savage comments about the Walt Disney Company during Thursday’s quarterly earnings conference call.
Or — for that matter — I’d sure love to lend a sympathetic ear to the gang from Dreamworks Animation. To hear what these guys have to say about the reports earlier this week that studio management was giving semi-serious thought to spinning off Dreamworks’ animation unit.
Plus it might be nice to hear what Marty Sklar has to say about the late great John Hench, when the Vice Chairman and Principal Creative Executive of Walt Disney Imagineering picks up Hench’s now posthumous Winsor McCay Award. Which pays tribute to John’s lifelong contribution to the art form of animation.
So — if anyone out there has an extra ticket to this Saturday night’s event at the Alex Theatre (Plus a plane ticket. And a rental car I can borrow. As well as a hotel room. Then I guess I’ll need a tuxedo too) … Sigh … Doesn’t seem all that likely, now does it?
Ah well … Even if I can’t attend Saturday’s ceremony, the entire JimHillMedia.com family sends out its best wishes to all of this year’s nominees. Here’s hoping that the 31st Annual ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards is an absolute smash.
For further information on the 2004 Annie Awards (as well as to see a complete listing of this year’s nominees), head over to the official Annie Awards website.