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The Annecy Animation Festival’s 2026 edition was one of records. Badge holders hit 19,100, an all time high and a signal of animation’s dramatic growth, up from 7,100 accredited attendees in 2013.
Meanwhile, during Annecy,
on June 24 France bore the brunt of its hottest day on record. Annecy is already the most physically demanding of European film/TV events, split between screenings at the Bonlieu, a chic theater near its fairy-tale looking old part, and its market and panels, a 20-minute lakeside walk at the imposing Hotel Imperial.
“No two attendees could ever overlap on anything completely, unless it was complaining about the dangerously swampy heat,” GKids president Dave Jesteadt joked as this year’s event wound down.
According to Annecy Artistic Director, Marcel Jean, the unprecedented weather provoked screening no-shows, as ticket holders proved wary of braving the scorching sun when queueing outside festival venues.
At the same time, the Festival faced a deep contradiction: the quality of films and TV shows this year has never been better, multiple observers insisted. Yet the industry confronts many of the same disruptive tectonic challenges of live action entertainment.
These and other takeaways from a powerful and memorable 2026 Annecy Animation Festival, which ran June 21-28.
Why Annecy Has Become Hollywood’s Most Important Film Festival in Europe
Cannes has the glamor and a lock on the best of international cinema, including animation, if it is ready to screen. In industry terms, however, in many ways Annecy is a far bigger affair, taking in big box office swings and TV and streaming services’ top plays. Annecy opened June 21 with an early, if not first, audience screening of “Minions & Monsters,” the seventh entry in the “Despicable Me”/“Minions” saga which is the highest-grossing animated franchise of all time, collecting $5.5 billion from cinema theaters.
As “Toy Story” hurtled through June 28 to a first 12-day $578 million, the best opening of any movie this year, the companies behind it, Disney and Pixar, sneak peaked excerpts last Friday from “Hexed” and “Gatto,” two of its biggest upcoming premieres.Netflix flew in Brad Bird and Ricky Gervaisfor clip previews of “Ray Gunn” and “Alley Cats” plus the “Ghostbusters: Night Shift” team, while Warner Bros. Animation/DC Studios and Cartoon Network Studios took the prize for most multiple big news announcements at Annecy, led by a the unveil of a new WBA/DC project trio.
“It’s the fourth year in a row we come here, and its always a delight. Truly, you’re the best crowd in the world,” Peter Girardi, executive vice president, alternative programming at Warner Bros. Animation thanked the crowd at the end of a WBA adult animation showcase on Friday. And it rang true. Of 19,100 badge holders, a large part of Annecy’s audience is made up of fandom, school students and animators. They’re netizens and are far more wildly enthusiastic about what they like – greeting announcements with uncontrolled screams of joy – and benevolent about that they don’t. Contrast that with Cannes critics’ constituency.
Animation’s Anime-ation
“Oh, East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet,” wrote British Empire poet Rudyard Kipling. Obviously, he never made it to this year’s Annecy.
One big trend stood out there this year: the animation world’s embrace of Asia. That cut various ways. The biggest and most commented work-in-progress sneak peek at Annecy this year came from India,S.S. Rajamouli’s “Baahubali: The Eternal War,”a animated spinoff from his huge live action franchise.
Then there’s the ever-surging audience for anime, especially among the world’s teens and YA demos. In this year’s Annecy’s biggest stat reveal, Netflix confirmed at its Next on Netflix showcase, an Annecy must-attend, that views for its anime shows had soared from 1 billion views in 2023 to 1.5 billion in 2025. “44% of our 18-45 target now watch anime,” said Passion Paris MD Caroline Audebert, explaining its greenlit adaptation of a high-profile South Korean webtoon,“Hero Killer,”which will be made in anime style.
Anime: a Creators’ Choice
Animation is not just, however, a question of market economics. “There will always be exciting new films and filmmakers because animation is a creator-driven medium as much as it is a commercial one,” Gkids President Dave Gesteadt told Variety. Creators worldwide are embracing anime, or at least recognising its part of their creative mix, whether Singapore’s Ervin Han and Spain’s Raúl García, directors of top Annecy winner“The Violinist,”or France’s Jocelyn Charles, who helmed “God is Shy,” the most prized of Annecy winning shorts. Both titles possess the fulsome tones of Miyazaki-style Japanese anime.
The U.S/Europe-Asia Animation Axis Builds
So ever more, U.S. and European companies are buying into anime. At Annecy this year, this took multiple forms. At their joint studio focus, DC Studios and Warner Bros. Animation announced their first-ever anime series,“Joker: Laugh Riot.”Crunchyroll boarded “The Wolf,” the latest feature from top French studio Xilam, behind Oscar-nominated “I Lost My Body.” At its Netflix Anime showcase, the U.S. streamer unveiled a teaser of “The One Piece,” its hugely awaited seven-episode anime spin-off from the best-selling manga in history, plus a possible new gem,“Fool Night.”Annecy competition took in “We Are Aliens,” produced by Tokyo start-up Nothing New and French animation powerhouse Miyu Productions. Toei Animation sneak peeked “Monkey Quest,” written by David N. Weiss (“Shrek 2,” “The Smurfs”) who directed with Stephanie Ma Stine (“Kung Fu Panda 4” ). “The Japanese side brought the history, craft and discipline of anime production. The U.S. side brought a strong sense of story structure, character emotion and global family entertainment,” producer Yoshi Ikezawa told Variety.
Star Power
Guillermo del Toro attended Annecy’s opening ceremony. Whisked in and out of Annecy, Ricky Gervais talked up Netflix’s “Alley Cats.”“I hope you like cats. And swearing,” he jested. Director and Laika President Travis Knight personally presented “Wildwood” at the festival, making it clear via clips that this is Laika’s most ambitious project to date. “King of the Hill” creator Mike Judge and indie stop-motion legends Stephen and Timothy Quaypicked up Annecy Honorary Cristals. Annecy’s animation community doesn’t really buy into the idea that voice actors are the stars of an animated feature. For them, its the writers, directors and animators; and they treat them like rock stars.
Oscar Talk
Even if the films are discovered at Cannes, Annecy can help mould Oscar contender perceptions. In 2024, Gints Zilbalodis’ “Flow” solidified early Award race buzz with three Cristal Awards. Movies from Laika’s “Wildwood” to Netflix’s “Ray Gunn” and DreamWorks’ “Forgotten Island”were all being talked up at Annecy this year as possible Oscar race candidates along with Cannes indie darlings “Iron Boy,” “In Waves,” and “Tangles.” But it was a “particularly exceptional year in both Annecy features and shorts selection, with the animated feature Oscar race shaping up as one of the most competitive line-ups in recent memory,” said Benoit Berthe Siward, an animation awards campaign specialist. Variety highlighted three potential short film contenders inits Annecy prize wrap: “God is Shy,” Don Hertzfeld’s “Paper Trail” and Anna Mantzaris’ “Please.” Another might be “Cartoon Physics,” by Oscar-nominated duo Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter (“Negative Space”), an endearing stop motion vision of a mother’s attempt to shelter her four-year-old daughter from her first encounter with death.
‘Original is Not a Bad Word’
Broadly, the world’s animation industry is splitting output two ways: between commercial IPs and lower-budget auteurist works. Regarding the former, Hollywood studios at Annecy insisted they have not given up on original IPs. At a first studio focus last Monday, overseen by Warner Bros. Pictures Animation President Bill Damaschke, ‘Hazbin Hotel’ creator Vivienne Medrano moved waves by announcing her feature debut, “Prehistoria.”Netflix is obviously betting on both established IPs – “Ghostbusters: Night Shift” and “Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory,” which both impressed at Annecy – and originals, such as “Ray Gunn.” “When I started in the business, ‘original’ was a good word,” Brad Bird reflected to Variety at Annecy. “Now, people say ‘untested,’ as if ‘original’ was a bad word. It’s not. ‘Original’ is exciting. Maybe there’s a little bit of risk, but that’s where the most interesting stuff is.”
AI’s Latest Bust-Up
Annecy’s most talked-about film this year, however, was what’s become a most definite non-Oscar contender: animated short “Danse Macabre,” from respected veteran animator Hisko Hulsing (“Undone”). Hulsing had gone into very public detailbefore Annecy about his use of Generative AI software to imitate his own paintings in making “Dance Macabre.” Spectators wearing “Let’s Stop Generative AI” stickers attended its Annecy screening. Just before it was screened, some walked out while others began booing the short.
The protests drew anenergetic response from Annecy Artistic Director Marcel Jean. “While I understand the concerns raised by the potential use of artificial intelligence within the industry, as well as the worries surrounding intellectual property and employment, I cannot condone a witch hunt targeting the work of artists who explore the possibilities of these new tools with transparency.” At least in the animation industry, AI acrimony doesn’t look set to disappear fast.
Hitting Back at Market Crisis
10 years ago, Annecy was packed by studios and big independents recruiting animators. By this year, such operations had almost disappeared. A few students or junior animators were seen roaming the halls of Annecy’s Mifa market with hand-crafted signs saying: “I’m looking for a job.” “In terms of recruitment, studios are now conducting year-round talent monitoring beyond the markets,” Mifa head Véronique Encrenaz explained to Variety.
“This year began to show the fault lines in the industry that will demand changes if we are going to create a more sustainable business,” said one distributor, citing in the “difficulty of international film sales, which is largely due to changing demand and uncertainty from TV and streamer channels across windows, particularly in America.” That is equally true in TV where, according to the latest figures from French export org Unifrance, French TV shows made more money selling to Belgium than to the U.S.
Companies are of course fighting back, pooling often fulsome tax incentives and other soft moneys in co-producers’ countries or offices at the same company, as is the case of Passion Paris and Passion London. With France offering a 40% rebate on VFX spend, that’s an option to take seriously indeed. It doesn’t solve how movies get seen in theatres, however.
Annecy’s Animation Haven Opens
Annecy used to become the world’s animation capital for seven days a year. Now, its aiming to part wear that mantle all year round. On June 19, Annecy’s Cité du Cinéma d’Animation opened, offering a screening room, an artists’ residency, special areas for training courses and cultural events, alongside exhibition spaces, a bookstore and a gift shop. One of its first exhibitions showcased Laika and Travis Knight’s “Wildwood.” The Cité drew floods of visitors in its first days. ““We’re incredibly proud, In these troubling times, we have shown the world the true power of culture, and what France can achieve when cultural institutions, politics and people work together to build a creative, art-driven hub for the future of animation,” said Mickaël Marin, CEO of Annecy Festival and Mifa organizer CITIA.
