Disney TV Animation Leads Annie Nominees With 20 Bids

Terry Flores

While the temptation at this time of year is to focus on achievements in feature film, the Annie Awards also laud television/broadcast animation.

In fact, 14 of the 31 production awards ASIFA-Hollywood will give out on Jan. 31 will go to TV projects, with 13 going to films and the rest going to videogames, shorts, commercials and student films.

Disney Television Animation dominated with 20 nominations, with eight going to “Disney Mickey Mouse” to lead the TV/broadcast categories. Disney’s nearest competitors were Cartoon Network with eight and studio stablemate Pixar with seven.

“We couldn’t be more proud,” said Eric Coleman, senior VP of original series at Disney Television Animation. “I believe we got more nominations this year than ever. It’s really gratifying for us to be recognized with so many nominations because they come from within the animation community.”

While Pixar doesn’t have a pony in the feature race, its TV special “Toy Story That Time Forgot” racked up seven noms, followed by Disney’s “Wander Over Yonder” with six.

ASIFA took care this year to label the category “television/broadcast” in order to include entries from the digital realm, handing out four bids to Amazon Studios toon “Tumble Leaf” and two to Netflix’s “Turbo Fast,” from DreamWorks Animation.

In addition to “Wander Over Yonder,” nominees for TV/broadcast production for children are “Adventure Time,” “Gravity Falls,” “Legend of Korra” and “Over the Garden Wall.”

General audience nominees are “Archer,” “Back to Backspace,” “Bob’s Burgers,” “Rick and Morty,” “Mike Tyson Mysteries,” “Regular Show” and “The Simpsons.”

Joining “Tumble Leaf” in the preschool audience category are “Doc McStuffins,” “Peter Rabbit,” “Wallykazam!” and “Zack and Quack.”

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