‘Frozen’ ices out competition at Annie Awards

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Disney’s “Frozen” topped the animation honors at the 41st Annie Awards, taking home five trophies, including best animated feature. The 3-D film, about a magically icy princess and her sister, won best directing for Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee at this year’s Annies, which are presented by the International Animated Film Society. It also conquered music, production design and voice acting categories, the latter for star Josh Gad. “Frozen,” which has earned more than $864 million globally, was up against “Despicable Me 2,” “A Letter to Momo,” “Ernest & Celestine,” “Monsters University,” “The Croods” and “The Wind Rises.” Live-action films also scored Annies, including “Pacific Rim” for animated effects and “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” for character animation.

For television, Fox’s “Futurama” won best general-audience animated show.

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Warner Bros. has announced that Jesse Eisenberg will play Lex Luthor in the studio’s planned Superman-Batman film.

The casting of the 30-year-old Eisenberg was met with a wave of surprise on social media last week. Eisenberg is a widely respected actor but isn’t known for the kind of villainous gravitas that Gene Hackman brought to the role.

The Superman-Batman film is to be directed by Zac Snyder and many also questioned the choice of Ben Affleck for Batman. Reprising the role of Superman is Henry Cavill.

Snyder says Eisenberg allows the film to take Luthor in “some new and unexpected directions.”

Jeremy Irons was also cast as Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s loyal guardian. Alfred was played by Michael Caine in the “Dark Knight” trilogy.

The film is set to open in May 2016.

Associated Press