Asia’s Animation Revolution Drives Upbeat Outlook

variety.com:

Clifford Coonan The animation industry in Asia has expanded significantly in recent years and has a key role to play in boosting the entertainment sector in coming years.

Mainland China in particular, where animation has been given a major lift by the success of “Ne Zha 2”, which has taken over $2 billion and become the highest-grossing animated film in history, and the fifth-highest-grossing film ever. “’Ne Zha’ is going to be the best performing animation in the world – in the future we will see a bigger role for Chinese animation and big box office is awaiting us,” Catherine Ying, president of Pearl Studios, told a panel on the animation industry at Hong Kong FilMart. “Ne Zha 2” is based on “Journey to the West,” one of China’s four great classical novels, and toon houses in China are likely to mine ancient texts for further content.

Pearl is expecting to release “Eight Immortals” in 2026, which is based on the Chinese myth about eight immortals with special powers.

The story features in the 16th-century Chinese novel “Journey to the East” by Wu Yuantai. Ying told the panel that the key was to make sure that the ancient texts were backed by contemporary production values and story-telling. “From our frontline experience we find it’s not an easy job to launch abroad.