"KPop Demon Hunters" and "Elio" Leading Nominations at the 53rd Annie Awards

With ten nominations each, Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” and Pixar’s “Elio” are leading the 53rd Annie Awards, both up for best feature. They are joined in the category by “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain,” “The Bad Guys 2” and “Zootopia 2.” All these films are also in contention for Best Character Animation – Feature.

The writing teams behind “Elio,” “KPop Demon Hunters”, “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain,” “Scarlet” and “Zootopia 2” have also received nominations. On the small screen, Pixar’s “Win or Lose” racked up six nominations, while Nickelodeon’s “Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” secured three nominations.

"KPop Demon Hunters" is a colossal success on Netflix with co-director Maggie Kang emphasizing authenticity and a contemporary depiction of Korean culture. Directors of "Elio", Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian, utilized classic science fiction movies as inspiration for the story of a young orphan boy yearning to be abducted by aliens.

The 53rd Annual Annie Awards will take place on Saturday, Feb. 21. The awards are often a foretelling of the Oscars animated feature race - last year’s best independent feature winner, “Flow,” went on to win best animated feature.