Jackie Chan’s empire gets even bigger with new 3-D cartoon
As one of Hollywood’s most famous faces coming from China, experts are saying stardom has played well to push the world’s second-largest economy further
By Sophia Yan
Jackie Chan’s empire is getting even bigger with the launch of his new 3-D cartoon series, “All New Jackie Chan Adventures.”
The 104-episode series will follow the exploits of a young Jackie Chan in cartoon form, leading his “J-Team,” to fight off nightmare monsters to ensure every kid can have sweet dreams at night. Targeting children ages 3 to 10, the show aims to promote better etiquette and discipline — Chan even turns up at the end of each episode to offer encouragement.
“It’s meant to help all young children to do things they don’t always like to do — don’t look at your phone for too long, remember to brush your teeth, respect your elders, pick up the trash,” Chan said. “If you tell them that, sometimes children won’t listen, but through comedy and action, then they will start to follow.”
This is the latest addition to the Jackie Chan empire: On top of his long, storied career as an actor and singer, he also owns firms in the entertainment industry, has a charity and supports many other causes, and even sits on a central government political advisory body. There’s a vast variety of branded products out there, including bath towels, wine cases and LED light bulbs. And with the launch of this new cartoon, Chan and his business partners have plans for an endless array of even more, including theme parks, books, toys, apparel, video games and stage plays.
Experts say Chan, 63, is one of China’s most successful cultural exports, and that his stardom has played well as the world’s second-largest economy pushes itself to rival Hollywood. Chinese firms have spent billions buying up U.S. companies, like Legendary Entertainment, in recent years.
“Between people like him and companies like Wanda and all this overseas investment … it’s clear China is trying to exert a lot more intangible soft power force on the world,” said Ben Cavender of China Market Research Group. “With (President Donald) Trump coming into power, it’s created a massive opportunity for China to sort of rebrand itself.”