Abominable is a US-China film co-production set to succeed in both markets, and it is authentically Chinese
- The film is set in modern China, all the main characters are Chinese, and mainly Asian actors voice them. There’s a version for China with different jokes
- Abominable took US$20.9 million when it opened in US cinemas, and 20 million yuan when it opened in China. It could breakthrough industry has been waiting for
Animated film Abominable has been a surprise hit at the North American box office. The story of a young teenager and the yeti she finds living on the roof of her family’s apartment building, the film’s success – it took US$20.9 million at its domestic opening last week, and 20 million yuan (US$2.8 million) in its opening two days in China – has observers of Hollywood sitting up and taking note.
That’s not because it is animated – animated films have always done well in the United States market – but because the main characters are all Chinese, living in modern China, and voiced predominantly by Asian actors.
The film is a co-production between Chinese and American film studios: Shanghai-based Pearl Studio and DreamWorks Animation, owned by NBCUniversal, in America.
Co-productions between the US and China, the world’s first and second largest film markets, are increasingly common but have so far failed to garner the kind of cross-continental success that movie studios are hoping for.
