China
China adds a modern dimension to its beloved bear
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-13 17:33
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BEIJING - First, there was Kung Fu Panda, the 2008 Hollywood animated movie that turned China's beloved symbol into an international star.
Now, there is Little Big Panda, another animated movie, which the producers are hoping will add a modern dimension to the furry animal - 3D to be exact.
Chen Xiaoxiang, the movie's producer, said Greg Manwaring, who was an animator for the 1994 Disney animated hit, The Lion King, is directing Little Big Panda.
Little Big Panda has a budget of 350 million yuan ($51.7 million) and will be the most costly co-produced animated movie in China.
Chen said about 60 percent of the investment has been recouped with distribution rights sold to more than 100 countries outside Asia and North America.
Sales to the United States will soon begin, and will be promoted with the use of movie clips and interviews with Manwaring shown to distributors there.
Chen estimates that total worldwide sales is expected to reach $150 million.
"This is an average figure," he said. "The domestic box office will reach 300 million yuan ($44.3 million), contributing 30 percent or so to the total sale."
One of China's leading movie websites, M1905.com, reported that the movie has been six years in the making.
M1905.com also reported that a 52-episode television version of the movie will be released in 2012.
Chen told China Daily that 3D will be one of the selling points of the movie.
Experts from Germany, France, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland are involved in the technical side of the production, which takes up 60 percent of the investment, he said.
Hot on the heels of Little Big Panda will be Kung Fu Panda 2, sequel to the first Hollywood movie.
"Audiences will see the competition of the two panda stories and be able to decide which panda is better," Chen said.
"They will see more Chinese features and Chinese spirit in the character in my movie. Even the background will be specially created according to Chinese painting style."
Chen said Po, the hero of Kung Fu Panda, is the only panda in their story, but "ours is about a story of growth and cooperation in a huge panda family".
"It is an in-earnest panda movie. Spectacular scenes and settings in the movie like the glaciers and grassland will also make it very appealing," he said.
Chen Hongwei from Wanda International Cinema, one of China's leading cinema chains, said that since "we are not very optimistic about Chinese 3D technology, we will have to wait to see whether the movie will rock the market".
Little Big Panda hopes to cash in on the 3D boom brought about by the movie Avatar.
Official statistics from China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television show that Avatar has so far grossed more than 1.38 billion yuan ($203 million) in China.
China Daily
