'Kuiba' sets Chinese animation on new path
- By Keen Zhang
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China.org.cn, June 29, 2011
Among Chinese moviegoers, the film's Japanese styling has caused some controversy, but Vassoon's sincere and mature effort has touched many viewers and critics' hearts. For the first time, a Chinese animated feature is targeting general audiences, not just young kids. The film not only carries inspiring themes, such as courage, perseverance, and self-discovery, but also explores the relationship of father and son and comments on various social issues. The storyline is tight and breathtaking, and will resonate with Chinese and foreign audiences alike.
Vassoon is China's oldest private animation studio, founded in 1992 by Wu Hanqing, a veteran of the China Film Group's script department. "Kuiba" started out as a TV project. To help finance the film's production, Wu and her husband, Vassoon Chairman Wang Chuan, sold their house and got help from a venture capital fund at Tsinghua University, according to Hollywood Reporter.
"Kuiba"'s energy and durability will be tested heavily in China's mainland market. Premiering in the wake of the Hollywood smash hit "Kung Fu Panda 2" and within weeks of the much-anticipated opening of "Transformers 3", "Kuiba" will also face competition from another heavily promoted Chinese feature, the 3D cartoon "Legend of a Rabbit" by Tianjin Film Studio.
In 2006, Institute of Digital Media Technology Ltd (IDMT), a Shenzhen-based computer graphics company, released a 3-D animated feature called "Thru the Möbius Strip", which looked like a poorly done video game. It was billed as the "most expensive animation by a Chinese company" to show the world that Chinese could also produce a high-tech cartoon.
However, the producers soon found themselves in a financial disaster: the movie cost almost 130 million yuan (US$20 million) to make but only grossed about 3 million yuan (US$464,058) at box office. It was a new direction that Chinese animators tried to explore but failed.
In the last five years, Chinese cartoons struggled in the domestic market while foreign efforts like "Kung Fu Panda" made huge money. The domestically produced "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf," inspired by the hugely successful animated TV series, emerged as a "dark horse". The latest installment grossed 127 million yuan (US$19.63 million) during the 2010 Lunar New Year holiday season. However, the target age for the film, like many other Chinese animations, was young children and parents who have no choice but to accompany their kids to the cinema.
Vassoon's "Kuiba" may stand to change the Chinese animation industry forever.
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