KPop Takes Center Stage at the Annies.
Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters swept the 53rd annual Annie Awards on Saturday, winning all 10 awards it was nominated for, including Best Feature, Directing for Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, and Voice Acting for Arden Cho as Rumi. This positions it as a strong contender for the upcoming Animated Feature Oscar.
Below is the complete list of winners across film, TV, video games, and more.
The film, which is Netflix’s most-watched title ever, started winning awards with Production Design and then went on to secure Best Music—a result that wasn’t surprising. KPop Demon Hunters also received accolades for Best Writing, Character Design, Character Animation, FX, and Editorial. The film has surpassed 482 million views and its soundtrack has achieved an impressive 11 billion streams.
In a surprising twist, Disney/Pixar’s Elio, which also had 10 nominations at the Annies, came away without a win, even though it was nominated in the Storyboarding category, which KPop was not. The award for that category went to DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys. Disney’s Zootopia 2, the highest-grossing animated feature of all time, also failed to secure any awards.
Best Feature – Independent was awarded to Neon’s sci-fi/fantasy film Acro, which debuted at Cannes and is a competitor for next month’s Animated Feature Oscar alongside KPop Demon Hunters, Zootopia 2, Elio, and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain from GKids. Historically, 14 of the 23 Annie winners for Best Feature have gone on to win the Oscar in that category, but last year’s trend diverged as the Academy Award went to Flow, despite The Wild Robot sweeping the 2025 Annies.
On the television front, Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots won three awards, bringing its total to 11, complemented by its 17 Emmy wins. Pixar’s Win or Lose and Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects each won three awards. Other TV accolades included Dan Mintz for his voice role in Bob’s Burgers and Hulu’s The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball Episode.
