The year 2015 is just about nearing the finish line, with the Sun setting on this year; only to shine brighter with much more rigour in the coming new year! But, like always it’s important to take away learnings and also reflect on the successes that occurred over the last 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days and so on…
We at AnimationXpress.com began the tradition of getting the industry stalwarts to resonate their views and thoughts on how the year panned out for the various industry verticals – namely, animation, VFX, games, comics and all other sectors that work closely with these four pillars to keep the AVCG industry’s train chugging along.
Last year has seen some major rejigs across industries, which also bore witness to some huge layoffs occurring across major players like: Disney, DreamWorks Animation, Zynga, EA, among others internationally. On the domestic front, it was encouraging to see the Central as well as many State Governments stepping forward and looking at evangelising the AVCG sector on a larger scale. The Budget this year also came with a pleasant surprise as a centre of excellence in animation and gaming was announced for the state of Arunachal Pradesh; while more recently an incubation centre, IMAGE, has been planned for the Telangana region.
What was a downer in 2015 was the fact that there was no theatrical release for an Indian animated movie, not even a Chhota Bheem adventure, which was earlier planned for a Summer release, but has now been pushed ahead for a January 2016 release. Although, the international feature presentations has seen more audiences thronging to the screens with Illumination Entertainment’s ‘Minions’ being the biggest gainer bagging nearly $3 million, which is still minuscule when compared to the global numbers.
The year also witnessed the release of India’s biggest motion picture presentation till date in SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali – The Beginning’, which set a new benchmark as far as visual effects is concerned for the country under the helm of National Award winning VFX supervisor Srinivas Mohan.
But these are merely a few of the monumental revolutionary changes that have taken place over the last year and more importantly acted as stepping stones for a brighter tomorrow. We at AnimationXpress.com reached out to some of the thought leaders in the industry to pen down some notable changes they witnessed over the past year and how it will change the picture of the AVCG industry moving ahead!
You can catch the various industry insights on our ‘Year Enders Specials‘ section on AnimationXpress.com!