Netflix’s animated hit series KPop Demon Hunters made a major sweep at the 53rd Annual Annie Awards held on February 21, winning all awards from the 10 categories it was nominated for.
Produced by Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix, the film won Best Feature and went on to secure victories in several major creative categories. Arden Cho won Best Voice Acting for her role as Rumi, while Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans were recognized with the Best Direction award. This was presented by Filipino-American actress Liza Soberano along with DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island directors and writers Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado.
KPop Demon Hunters also won the following categories:
Best FX – Filippo Macari, Nicola Finizio, Simon Corbaux, Naoki Kato, Daniel La Chapelle, Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix, FX: Sony Pictures
Best Editorial - KPop Demon Hunters Editorial Team, Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Best Character Animation – Ryusuke Furuya, Sony Pictures Animation, Netflix
Best Character Design – Scott Watanabe, Ami Thompson, Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Best Music – KPop Demon Hunters Music Team, Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Best Production Design – Helen Chen, Dave Bleich, Wendell Dalit, Scott Watanabe, Celine Kim, Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
Best Writing – Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
READ: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami react to 'Golden' claiming K-Pop’s first-ever Grammy Award
The film was not eligible for Best Feature – Independent award and was not nominated for Best Storyboarding – Feature, making those the only two feature categories it did not enter.
As a result of the sweep, Disney Pixar’s Elio, which also had 10 nominations, went home empty-handed despite being nominated in the KPop-free Storyboarding category. The award was given to DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys.
With the domination, KPop Demon Hunters now joins previous films How to Train Your Dragon, The Incredibles, Inside Out, Kung Fu Panda, Mulan, and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit as titles that have won 10 Annie Awards in a single year.
Pixar’s Coco, meanwhile, holds the record with 11 wins.
The Annie Awards success adds to the film’s growing list of achievements. Earlier this February, its song “Golden,” performed by EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami, won Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 68th Grammy Awards, marking the first-ever Grammy win for K-pop.
KPop Demon Hunters is set to continue its awards run as it heads into the upcoming Oscars this March, where it is nominated for Best Animated Feature. “Golden” is nominated for Best Original Song in the same event.