The 39th annual Annie Award nominees have been announced this morning, and as usual, DreamWorks Animation had a really strong showing. The studio’s one-two punch of “Kung Fu Panda 2” and “Puss in Boots” led the field with 11 and nine nominations respectively.

DreamWorks has been mobilizing as of late behind the scenes, bringing on awards publicists outside of the in-house Paramount team. The thinking is that the studio has a big slate, what with home-grown productions like “The Adventures of Tintin” and “Rango” to work with as it is, and no one wants the focus split too much. That’s doubly important considering that, even in a five-nominee year, it’ll be tough for DreamWorks to get both of its films in.

“The Adventures of Tintin” managed to be nominated for Best Animated Feature, but as I’ve been mentioning all season, I anticipated the film would be qualified as animation for the Oscars to avoid a stink, but I don’t expect the animation branch to nominate it in the final analysis. We’ll see if that happens.

“Winnie the Pooh” managed to nail down 8 nominations (including for writing and directing), but somehow missed out on the “let’s nominate everything” Best Animated Feature category. What gives there?

Meanwhile, Pixar joined the party again this year after protesting via exclusion last year. The studio had beef with the rules and judging procedures of the organization and didn’t submit “Toy Story 3” for consideration last year. I guess it’s water under the bridge now as “Cars 2” was submitted this year and received seven nominations.

Fox’s “Rio” and the aforementioned “Rango” scored 8 nominations apiece. Curiously, Aardman’s “Arthur Christmas” only managed 6.

Of the short subject category, “I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat,” “La Luna” “Paths of Hate,” “Sunday” and “Wild Life” are the films cited that were advanced by the Academy

The full list of nominations:

Best Animated Feature
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“A Cat in Paris”
“Arrugas (Wrinkles)”
“Arthur Christmas”
“Cars 2”
“Chico & Rita”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”
“Rio”

Best Animated Special Production
“Adventure Time: Thank You”
“Batman: Year One”
“Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas”
“Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters”
“Prey 2”
“Star Tours”

Best Animated Short Subject
“Adam and Dog”
“I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat”
“La Luna”
“(Notes on) Biology”
“Paths of Hate”
“Sunday”
“The Ballad of Nessie”
“The Girl and the Fox”
“Wild Life”

Animated Effects in an Animated Production
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Cars 2”
“Cars 2”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”
“Star Wars: The Clone Wars”
“Winnie the Pooh”

Animated Effects in a Live Action Production
“Cowboys & Aliens”
“Cowboys & Aliens”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”

Character Animation in a Feature Production
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rio”
“Rio”
“Winnie the Pooh”
“Winnie the Pooh”

Character Animation in a Live Action Production
“HOP”
“Paul”
“Paul”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

Character Design in a Feature Production
“Arthur Christmas”
“Cars 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”
“Rio”

Directing in a Feature Production
“Gnomeo & Juliet”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”
“Rio”
“Winnie the Pooh”

Music in a Feature Production
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rio”
“Winnie the Pooh”

Production Design in a Feature Production
“Cars 2”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Rio”
“Winnie the Pooh”

Storyboarding in a Feature Production
“Arthur Christmas”
“Cars 2”
“Gnomeo & Juliet”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”
“Rango”
“Winnie the Pooh”

Voice Acting in a Feature Production
Ashley Jensen, “Arthur Christmas”
Bill Nighy, “Arthur Christmas”
Jim Cummings, “Gnomeo & Juliet”
Gary Oldman, “Kung Fu Panda 2”
James Hong, “Kung Fu Panda 2”
Zach Galifianakis, “Puss in Boots”
Jemaine Clement, “Rio”

Writing in a Feature Production
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Arthur Christmas”
“Gnomeo & Juliet”
“Rango”
“Winnie the Pooh”

Editing in a Feature Production
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Cars 2”
“Kung Fu Panda 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”

JURIED AWARDS

Winsor McCay Award: Walt Peregoy, Borge Ring, Robert Searle

June Foray Award: Art Leonardi

Special Achievement: Depth Analysis

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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