Chinese animation attempts to go global

(Ecns.cn) -- As soon as it premiered in 2005, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, an animated television series, achieved immense popularity in China. Yet, this single success does not tell the whole story of the country's animation industry, China Entrepreneur Magazine reminded its readers.

The 530 episodes of the kid-oriented, light-hearted cartoon, featuring a group of goats and a clumsy wolf trying to hunt them down, has been translated into 17 languages, aired on 65 different TV stations nationwide, and introduced to over 50 countries and regions around the world. It was an instant hit in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

A research report by students in the Journalism Program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong declares that in 2009, the first "Pleasant Goat" movie—The Super Snail Adventure— broke the domestic box office record for a Chinese animated film, pocketing 30 million yuan on its opening weekend, and 80 million yuan throughout its run, a pretty impressive figure for a project whose budget was a mere 6 million yuan.

During the last Chinese New Year holidays in January this year, the fourth "Pleasant Goat" movie— Mission Incredible: Adventures On The Dragon's Trail—notched up 160 million yuan with a 40-million yuan investment, stealing the show from all its competition.

With youngsters reading "Pleasant Goat" comic books, singing the serial's theme songs, wearing shirts displaying the characters, and rushing to cinemas to see new films, the cartoon is nothing short of a phenomenon in China and beyond, the report added.

"Even kids in underdeveloped provinces such as Guizhou watch it," said Liu Chen, a lecturer in film and visual culture at the School of Communication and Design at Sun Yat-sen University.

Sensing the potential, the Hong Kong animation giant, IMAGI, acquired Toon Express Group, which made the "Pleasant Goat" serial and owned the character copyrights, for about HK$1 billion in 2011. The deal also helped rescue the buyer from the brink of insolvency by bringing in HK$7,000 revenue within half a year.

"My original intention was to sell IMAGI as a listed shell company after a financial restructuring. But after I took over the company, I realized the enormous potential of China's family entertainment market," Francis Leung, current chairman of IMAGI and a veteran investment banker, told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

At this, Su Yongle, a major investor in the serial dubbed "Father of Pleasant Goat," also noted that "you really don't have to use a Chinese story, or to have the Great Wall in the background, or have characters wear something red. 'Pleasant Goat' has a sense of humor. We put a lot of family elements in there, revealing the nature of the Chinese family, what the kids are thinking and how they live their lives."

The WSJ cited some marketing experts who believe that independently created cultural content may help China gain more global cultural influence than any effort the government is making.

Yet, Su had to point out to the magazine that China's animation industry still faces challenges. While filmmakers can make returns from TV stations and box-office sales in the U.S. and other markets, Chinese animators have limited choices of broadcasting partners. And their earnings mainly come from government-awarded bonuses and toy sales, dampening the incentive to create original content, he explained.

"In developed countries, especially the U.S., about one thirds of commodities are licensed from companies. But the China market is still in its infancy with respect to similar practices," Xing Ying, vice president of Uyong Media, told China Entrepreneur Magazine.

Su further revealed that "Pleasant Goat" was originally intended only for the China market of about 130 million viewers.

Many industry insiders also believe that the cartoon has reached its peak and may make a further breakthrough only if it cooperates with foreign animators like Disney to explore overseas markets.

According to IMAGI, the "Pleasant Goat" series occupied five of the top 10 ratings for animation programs in China based on prime-time viewership by urban children between the ages of 4 and 14.

"Disney created Mickey Mouse. Hello Kitty is Japanese. My plan is to turn 'Pleasant Goat' into the national animation brand. We will also promote the brand outside China," Francis Leung vowed.

Leung said Toon Express signed a deal with a unit of Walt Disney in January 2011 to manage the company's consumer-products licensing business. He also plans to broaden Toon Express's income sources by developing other lines of consumer products under the cartoon brand, including books, toys, songs and games that can be downloaded from the Internet and onto mobile phones.

However, animation experts warned that the main challenge in exporting characters from a TV cartoon like "Pleasant Goat" is to make the story appealing to overseas audiences.

"Creating a smash hit out of any character takes time and perseverance, and sustaining that success is even harder," Masumi Oishi told WSJ. Oishi is an analyst at Ichiyoshi Research Institute in Tokyo who covers Sanrio, the company behind Hello Kitty.

Kwai Bun, chief executive of ManyMany Creations, a Hong Kong-based creative-production house, also stressed to the magazine that it may take the mainland animation artists years to catch up with the creativity and techniques of their counterparts in the U.S. and Japan.