The animation industry globally has seen tremendous growth in the recent past, with studios from countries apart from US also leaving their mark on the world map with successful animation feature films. Be it Studio Ghibli of Japan, Cartoon Saloon of Ireland or even an Aardman Animations based in Bristol, UK.
In the recent past, China’s animation and VFX industry has witnessed tremendous growth and receiving a lot of support from the government. “China is keen to boost the animation sector with efforts to produce more high-quality projects,” said Liu Hongge, deputy director with the centre for international cultural exchange under the Ministry of Culture at the opening ceremony of the 12th China (Changzhou) International Animation Art Week.
The highest grossing 3D fantasy animated film, Monster Hunt, directed by Raman Hui the Hong Kong-born animation supervisor who was involved with the genesis of the “Shrek” franchise, has surpassed ‘Fast and Furious 7’ at the box office. Consistently being at No. 1 at the Chinese box office for 4 consecutive weekends, it earned 1.05 billion ($169 million)
With recent releases of animated films like Monkey King: Hero is Back and Monster Hunt, the conversation about “successful Chinese animation” is changing. It’s no longer about how foreign companies can gain entry and distribution into the Chinese marketplace – it’s about the surge of Chinese investment in content and in China’s push to create world class IP.
China’s animation industry has generated more than 100 billion yuan (around $16 billion) revenue last year, registering a 15 per cent increase over the previous year.
George Wang, the founder of Tudou, recently opened Light Chaser, a new animation studio with the hope to become the Chinese equivalent of the US animation giant Pixar. Their first fully CG animated film, Little Door Guards, is slated to hit Chinese theatres this coming 1 January, 2016. And Oriental DreamWorks, the joint venture created by DreamWorks Animation SKG and China Media Capital is also gearing up to launch their first co-production, Kung Fu Panda 3, in early 2016.
So, China seems to be on the verge of providing a new face of creativity and generating financial profit as the scale of its Animation Industry is on its way towards the sky!