Animation studio targets China, via Los Angeles
Chinese digital animation studio Original Force has set up a film division in Los Angeles and is working on its first original feature to feed demand both in the world's second-biggest movie market and globally.
Chinese digital animation studio Original Force has set up a film division in Los Angeles and is working on its first original feature to feed demand both in the world's second-biggest movie market and globally.
Backed by internet giant Tencent, the company aims to make one high-quality CGI movie every 18 months.
The success of DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda in 2008 showed the mainland box-office potential of animation with Chinese motifs or themes. Open Force joins the ranks of companies like Huayi Brothers and Fosun International that are investing in Hollywood in the hope of ultimately exporting its filmmaking expertise back to China.
Original Force, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and now Culver City in LA, produces animation for Disney, DreamWorks Television, Sony and Electronic Arts.
Its first original feature will be Duck Duck Goose, the tale of a free-spirited protagonist named Peng who rescues two ducklings, Chi and Chao, and becomes their surrogate father.
If the plot sounds tame and the name lacking in imagination, don't underestimate the creative powers behind the project.