Mickey Mouse teams up with 'pudgy penguin'

The Walt Disney Company's Mickey Mouse has formed a partnership with its Chinese friend "the pudgy penguin", the well-known icon of China's biggest Internet company, to tap into China's booming animation industry.

The Walt Disney Company in China, the Ministry of Culture's China Animation Group, and Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's largest Internet service provider, joined hands on Tuesday to explore creative research and development in the animation industry.

"National Animation Creative Research and Development Cooperation", is aimed at developing the country's animation industry, according to China Animation Group.

The organization will serve as an incubator to train local talent and develop original content that will entertain audiences in China and worldwide.

"The initiative is focused on nurturing local talent and recognizes the importance of developing original local animation content," Andy Bird, chairman of Walt Disney International, said at the ceremony.

"Disney's involvement builds on our expertise and long-term commitment to nurture the local original animation industry. As a founding partner we look forward to working with this new creative partnership in creating content for the Chinese and international marketplace," he added.

As part of the initiative, the company will provide its expertise in storytelling from concept creation and story development to market research.

The company will work with China Animation Group and Tencent to promote local content across mediums, including television, motion pictures and digital platforms, for distribution in China and internationally.

Tencent will provide online marketing support.

Tencent's massive user coverage in China could be a great platform for Disney to promote its brand and animated characters in the country, according to Zhao Xufeng, an analyst at iResearch Consulting Group based in Shanghai.

Meanwhile, Disney's established cultural products and animated characters will foster new players in the animation industry like Tencent, Zhao said.

Disney's theme park in Shanghai is scheduled to open in 2015. On Tuesday, Shanghai Disney Park project phase 1 received a loan of 12.9 billion yuan ($2 billion) from a banking consortium in Shanghai.

China's animation industry was valued at 47 billion yuan in 2010, according to the Ministry of Culture.

There are more than 10,000 animation enterprises in China, but few of its animated characters are familiar to audiences.

Research has shown that 19 of the 20 favorite animated characters in China are from overseas, the only exception being the Monkey King.

In 2011, of the seven animated films with box office receipts in excess of 50 million yuan, only one was made by a Chinese company. However, the movie's revenue was less than a quarter of that of the most popular animated film, according to China Animation Group.

"A lack of brilliant creative ideas is the biggest challenge our animation industry faces," said Gao Zheng, deputy director-general of the Cultural Industry Department of the Ministry of Culture.

The industry has mainly worked on outsourced projects from overseas animation companies.

"Cooperation among the three companies is a wise way to nurture great products," Gao said.