Annie Awards

ANIMATED FEATURE: How to Train Your Dragon 2
DIRECTING: Dean DeBlois, How to Train Your Dragon 2
WRITING: The LEGO Movie- Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
VOICE ACTING: Ben Kingsley, The Boxtrolls
MUSIC: How to Train Your Dragon 2- John Powell
PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Boxtrolls
CHARACTER ANIMATION: How to Train Your Dragon 2
CHARACTER ANIMATION (Live Action): Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
CHARACTER DESIGN: The Book of Life

ANIMATED EFFECTS: Big Hero 6
ANIMATED EFFECTS (Live Action): Edge of Tomorrow
EDITORIAL: How to Train Your Dragon 2
STORYBOARDING: How to Train Your Dragon 2
SHORT SUBJECT: Feast

Annie Awards Nominations

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Big Hero 6
The Book of Life
The Boxtrolls
Cheatin'
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The LEGO Movie
Song of the Sea 
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya

BEST DIRECTOR
Don Hall, Chris Williams, Big Hero 6
Bill Plympton, Cheatin'
Dean DeBlois, How to Train Your Dragon 2
Tomm Moore, Song of the Sea
Jorge R. Gutierrez, The Book of Life
Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable, The Boxtrolls
Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Chris McKay, The LEGO Movie
Isao Takahata, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya 

BEST VOICE ACTING
Dee Bradley Baker, The Boxtrolls
Andy Garcia, Rio 2
Ben Kingsley, The Boxtrolls
Cyndi Lauper, Henry & Me 

BEST WRITING
Big Hero 6- Robert L. Baird, Daniel Gerson, Jordan Roberts
The Boxtrolls- Irena Brignull, Adam Pava
How to Train Your Dragon 2- Dean DeBlois
The LEGO Movie- Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Song of the Sea- Will Collins

Best Animated Feature

Twenty features have been submitted to vie for the 2014 Best Animated Feature Academy Award.  With no clear frontrunner and no Pixar this year, this has a fair chance of being a fairly competitive category this year, despite my personal indifference to the slate.  What are you rooting for this year?

• Big Hero 6
• The Book of Life
• The Boxtrolls
• Cheatin
• Giovanni's Island
• Henry & Me
• The Hero of Color City
• How to Train Your Dragon 2
• Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
• Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return
• The Lego Movie
• Minuscule -- Valley of the Lost Ants
• Mr. Peabody & Sherman
• Penguins of Madagascar
• The Pirate Fairy
• Planes: Fire & Rescue
• Rio 2
• Rocks in My Pockets
• Song of the Sea
• The Tale of Princess Kaguya

How to Train Your Jump Street 2

A battle of the sequels 2014 edition!  On one corner of the ring stands 22 Jump Street, the meta-ier than thou sequel to the already pretty meta 2012 comedy 21 Jump Street, an improbable critical and commercial success based on that 80s television show that famously steered Johnny Depp away from teen beat matinee idol mode.  On the other side stands How to Train Your Dragon 2, the second outing of the 2010 animated hit that is the gold standard in every way for DreamWorks Animation.  Let's get ready to rumble.

1. 22 Jump Street- $60 million (opening weekend)
2. How to Train Your Dragon 2- $50 million (opening weekend) 
3. Maleficent- $19 million / -44% / $163.5 million total
4. Edge of Tomorrow- $16.1 million / -43% / $56.6 million total
5. The Fault in Our Stars- $15.7 million / -67% / $81.7 million total
6. X-Men: Days of Future Past- $9.5 million / -37% / $205.9 million total
7. Godzilla- $3.1 million / -48% / $191.3 million total
8. A Million Ways to Die in the West- $3 million / -58% / -$38.9 million total
9. Neighbors- $2.4 million / -53% / $143 million total
10. Chef- $2.2 million / -13% / $14 million total 

In the end, the R-rated, college bound hijinks of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill overruled a bushel of dragons (and Cate Blanchett, a superhero in her own right who voices a character in the Dragon sequel.)  Never fear, Dragon fans (I myself was absolutely besotted with it- a review to come up soon, I hope!) as surely the film will hold well throughout the summer.  Hopefully, it will snatch an Oscar as well but that's getting ahead of ourselves.  What did you see this weekend?