Toonz Media Group serves up animated feature ‘A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts’ for global audiences

Toonz Media Group has added another ambitious project to its content portfolio with A Banquet for the Hungry Ghosts, an animated horror that fuses Chinese cuisine, folklore and supernatural horror. The film will be introduced for presales at AFM 2025 as a key addition to Toonz’s growing international lineup.

Adapted from the acclaimed book by Ying Chang Compestine, A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts is produced by Robot Playground Media. At the helm is its co-founder, Singaporean filmmaker and producer Ervin Han.

The 90-minute feature comprises four standalone yet interlinked tales, each inspired by an iconic Chinese dish and tied together by a spectral chef presiding over a mysterious, otherworldly restaurant. Blending the macabre, the playful, and the poetic, the film serves up a chilling cinematic experience that explores themes of human frailty and ancestral guilt and greed.

“A Banquet for the Hungry Ghosts takes the global appetite for horror and gives it an unmistakably Asian taste- four stories, one haunting experience, and a franchise that’s just beginning,” said Han.

Building on Robot Playground’s distinctive visual sensibility, the film unites top animation talents from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan under the studio’s creative lead, a collaboration that deepens its Asian-infused artistic texture and widens its global resonance.

“I am a firm believer that Asian stories should travel the world. We have a rich culture and a deep tradition of storytelling, and its essence is truly universal. As the world becomes more cosmopolitan and interest grows in understanding diverse traditions, this film will be a real treat, not just for animation lovers, but for fans of horror, thrillers, and cinema in general,” said Toonz Media Group CEO P. Jayakumar.

With its fusion of Asian culinary symbolism, supernatural horror, and high-concept animation, A Banquet for the Hungry Ghosts is designed to captivate both Eastern and Western audiences. Toonz aims to create a genre-defining animated feature that balances authentic cultural roots with global storytelling sensibilities.