Winners of the Annual Annie Awards2026: KPop Demon Hunters Dominates with 10 Awards

According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Netflix swept the 53rd annual Annie Awards on Saturday night with its animated feature KPop Demon Hunters, winning in all 10 categories in which it was nominated, including Best Feature, Best Direction for Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, and Best Voice Acting for Arden Cho as Rumi. The film took a major step toward the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

The most-watched film in Netflix history received the evening’s first film award for Production Design and later won Best Music. KPop Demon Hunters went on to claim awards for Writing, Character Design, Character Animation, Visual Effects, and Editorial. The film has drawn more than 482 million viewers on Netflix, and its soundtrack has been streamed nearly 11 billion times.

Disney and Pixar’s Elio, which had been nominated in 10 Annie categories, failed to win any awards, although it was nominated for Storyboarding in a category where KPop Demon Hunters was not nominated. That award went to DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys. Meanwhile, Walt Disney’s Zootopia 2, the highest-grossing animated film in Hollywood history, also walked away empty-handed.

The Best Independent Feature award went to Neon’s sci-fi fantasy film Arco, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and will compete for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature next month. On its path to Oscar glory, the film faces competition from KPop Demon Hunters, Zootopia 2, Elio, and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain.

Since the creation of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002, 14 Annie winners for Best Feature have gone on to win the Oscar, including each of the past seven—until last year, when the Oscar went to Flow instead of The Wild Robot, which had led the Annie nominations with seven.

In television categories, Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots won two awards, bringing its total Annie wins to 11. Win or Lose, Pixar’s first long-form animated series, and Common Side Effects each won three awards. Other television winners included Bob’s Burgers and The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball.

The first of this year’s three honorary awards went to Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, known for the Spider-Verse films and The Lego Movie. The second was presented to Oscar-winning animator, writer, and director Michael Dudok de Wit for The Red Turtle and the short film Father and Daughter. The third honorary award went to Oscar-nominated filmmaker Chris Sanders, a five-time Annie winner, including one for The Wild Robot.

2026 Annie Awards Winners

Best Animated Feature

• Elio
• KPop Demon Hunters – Winner
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
• The Bad Guys 2
• Zootopia 2

Best Independent Animated Feature

• A Magnificent Life
• Arco – Winner
• I’m Frankelda
• Lost in Starlight
• Scarlet

Best Special Production

• A Loud House Christmas Movie: Naughty or Nice
• The Elephant
• Not Just a Goof
• Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical – Winner
• The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland

Best Animated Short Subject

• Cardboard
• Ovary-Acting
• Pillowzzz
• Snow Bear – Winner
• The Girl Who Cried Pearls

Best Sponsored Animation

• Trek
• Apocalypse DOh!
• LouiMax Dreams of Being an Adult
• Olipop Yeti – Winner
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds The Animation

Best TV/Media – Preschool

• Eva the Owlet
• Kindergarten: The Musical
• The Tiny Chef Show
• Wow Lisa – Winner
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum

Best TV/Media – Children

• My Melody & Kuromi
• Spice Frontier: Escape From Veltegar
• Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball – Winner
• Wylde Pak

Best TV/Media – Mature

• Bob’s Burgers
• Common Side Effects – Winner
• Haha, You Clowns
• Il Baracchino
• South Park

Best Limited Series

• Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight
• Eyes of Wakanda
• Marvel Zombies
• Star Wars: Visions
• Win or Lose – Winner

Best Student Film

• A Sparrow’s Song – Winner
• Acrobats
• Jour de vent
• The Undying Pain of Existence
• Trash