Partnership between Animamundi Studio and China Film Animation Industry to open opportunities in China

• Opens the door for more collaboration between Malaysia and Chinese studios
• Animamundi to develop own animation intellectual property

MALAYSIAN animation studio Animamundi Studio has inked an agreement with China Film Animation Industry Co Ltd to work together on the development and production of animated film projects in China and North America.

According to Animamundi’s founder and chief executive officer Leong Chun Chong, the deal is a significant milestone for the young but ambitious one-year old studio as it opens the door to more opportunities and projects from China.

“We pride ourselves on our ‘keep creating’ approach. Our key strength is to blend and deliver immersive visual experiences with amazing storytelling,” he said.

“Advancements in technology have lowered the barrier to entry for aspiring animators and visual artists. High-quality productions are now not limited to those in Hollywood but are here in Malaysia too,” he added.

Leong said he is looking forward to working together with other Malaysian studios in exploring the broader China market.

China Film Animation Industry’s president and chief executive officer Huang Jun said that he was confident that this new relationship will bring together top creative talents to work on China Film Animation’s portfolio and develop new intellectual properties in the coming years.

The signing of the agreement was witnessed by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)’s chief executive officer Yasmin Mahmood who expressed her hope that the new strategic alliance between Animamundi and China Film Animation Industry will result in the transfer of knowledge and creative ideas.

“The development of the Malaysian visual effects and animation production capabilities has been one of our key priorities. It is in fact, an industry identified as one of the Entry Point Projects (EPP) under Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme, it is expected to contribute RM3.04bil to the Gross National Income (GNI) and produce more than 10,000 jobs by the year 2020,” said Yasmin.

To date, Animamundi has delivered a number of visual effects projects that have appeared in both feature films and television series for China and international clients.

Among the studio’s highest profile projects to date is the feature film ‘Forever Young’ starring Zhang Ziyi, Huang Xiaoming, Chang Chen and Wang Leehom, currently under development.

The studio has also completed animation projects that include ‘Sharp, The Bull!’ and Zhong Ying. It has two other projects ‘Beast of Burden’ and ‘Dragon Keeper’ in development.

Apart from working on projects for other studios, Animamundi is also developing its own intellectual property project called ‘Ah Yah’.

Animamundi will certainly be kept busy following the signing with China Film Animation Industry as the studio is packed with projects until 2020. Leong said this has driven the need to hire more talent and he hopes to grow the studio’s workforce from 90 to 150 by the end of the year.

Related Stories:

Streamline Studios: The Do’s and Don’ts of virtual reality development

HKVFX and Escape Studios team up to grow VFX talent base in Malaysia

UK-based Codemasters has aggressive plans for its Malaysia studio

For more technology news and the latest updates, follow us on Facebook,Twitter or LinkedIn.