Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 1, 2011. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
ASIFA membership is open to professional animation artists and people who work in the animation industry. It is also open to fans, who have to pay an annual membership fee. Disney/Pixar suspected that DreamWorks had abused this rule for its own purposes. DreamWorks is said to have bought ASIFA membership for all employees, thereby using this trick to receive most of the votes in the ASIFA assessment and the awards for "How to Train a Dragon" and "Kung Fu Panda". Pixar’s "Toy Story 3" and "Wall-E" came away empty-handed. But sources within the Annie organization have now reported the rumor that Disney/Pixar will probably support the organization of the awards again in February 2012 and take part in the award show. The reason is changes to the voting rules and organizational management that the festival has made since the show last Feburar and that apparently reconciled Disney/Pixar with the Annie Awards again.
