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“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” has picked up another award on its march to the Oscars, nabbing the feature prize at the 50th Annie Awards, presented by Asifa-Hollywood, on Saturday evening.

In addition to being named the top film by the animation industry, “Pinocchio” led the winners’ list with five trophies overall, including the award for best direction for del Toro and fellow director Mark Gustafson. The stop-motion movie also picked up wins for music, production design (Curt Enderle and Guy Davis) and character design (Tucker Barrie).

Del Toro, who came directly from the PGA Awards where he received the trophy for producing ‘Pinocchio,’ was thrilled to win the Annie for direction alongside Gustafson. “Can I say this? I wanted the fucking Annie so much. It’s the most gorgeous thing in the world!” He noted that the Annies ceremony was the one place that he didn’t have to point...

The 50th Annual Annie Awards from Asifa-Hollywood, honoring honor overall excellence in animation as well as individual achievement, were handed out in a ceremony February 25 at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus.

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” took home the Best Feature prize, as well as feature film awards for Best Character Animation, Best Direction, Best Music and Best Production Design. “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” was awarded Best Indie Feature, as well as Best Voice Acting for co-creator Jenny Slate and Best Writing — Feature.

In the TV categories, “Bob’s Burgers,” “Love Death + Robots,” and “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” all took home awards. See the full list of winners below.

Previously announced, The Winsor McCay Award, in recognition of lifetime or career contributions, was presented to three recipients: Pete Docter, animated feature writer-director and Pixar CEO; Evelyn Lambart (posthumously), early National Film Board of Canada collaborator,...

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” was the big winner at the 50th annual Annie Awards, winning five categories in the award show that honors the best in animation. Fellow Oscar-nominees “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” won three and two awards, respectively.

“Pinocchio” led all films with nine nominations and went into the ceremony as a strong favorite to win the top award. The dark stop-motion take on the “Pinocchio” story also came into the ceremony at a time when its distributor, Netflix, has been dominating the Annies. Last year, its film “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” was nominated in eight categories and won all eight, including Best Feature, while the eventual Oscar winner “Encanto” settled for three awards in categories in which “Mitchells” was not nominated. And two years before that, Netflix’s “Klaus” was a surprise winner over Pixar’s “Toy Story 4,...

The blockbuster took nine of the 14 awards for which it was nominated.

Avatar: The Way of Water emerged as the big winner at the Visual Effects Society’s Ves Awards on Wednesday (February 15) night, taking nine awards including the prize for photoreal feature.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was the most honoured animated film, winning the animated feature award and two other prizes.

The Way of Water had gone into the ceremony, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, with 14 nominations, and Pinocchio with five.

The Ves Lifetime Achievement award went to producer Gale Anne Hurd and the...

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” swept the 21st annual Ves Awards Wednesday night in an unprecedented wave of dominance in every category, winning nine of its record-breaking 14 nominations, including the top photoreal feature, and the newest category, The Emerging Technology Award, for its innovative water toolset.

Although the prestigious visual effects honorary society has not been a reliable Oscar bellwether in recent years — picking the VFX winner only twice in the last six years — this now looks like a lock for the “Avatar” sequel.

Hosted by Patton Oswalt at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (from Netflix) — the favorite to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar — won the top animation trophy and took home three awards; Amazon’s “Thirteen Lives” snagged the supporting prize, and Amazon Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” grabbed the episodic prize and also took home three awards.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” topped the 21st Annual Ves Awards with nine wins, including for photoreal feature.

Meanwhile, Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” was named best animated feature and took home three awards total. On the TV side, Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” won three awards and was named best photoreal episode.

Rian Johnson, Domee Shi, Tig Notaro, Jay Pharoah, Tyler Posey and Randall Park were among the presenters for the night. James Cameron presented the Ves Lifetime Achievement award to acclaimed producer Gale Anne Hurd.

Former Ves executive director Eric Roth received the Board of Directors Award from the current board, which includes Lisa Cooke, current Ves Chair; Jim Morris, Ves, president of Pixar Animation and founding Ves Chair; and former Chairs Jeffrey A. Okun, Ves; Mike Chambers, Ves; Carl Rosendahl, Ves; and Jeff Barnes.

“As we celebrate the 21st Annual Ves Awards,...

“Avatar: The Way of Water” came out on top at the Visual Effects Society’s 2023 Ves Awards, held Wednesday evening at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

The James Cameron epic set a Ves record this year with 14 nominations in nine different categories, and it set a record for wins by coming out on top in every category in which it was nominated. By contrast, the original 2009 “Avatar” received 10 nominations and won five awards. The previous record for wins by a film was set by “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” at the first Ves Awards in 2003, when it won eight awards. (The show had fewer awards then than it does now.)

The nine awards for “Avatar: The Way of Water” included Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, the Ves category that aligns most closely with the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Competing with “Avatar...