Chinese animation studio behind Kung Fu Panda 3 dreams of global box office success
Pearl Studio to use new Chinese owner’s expertise to grow at home and globally
Like Po, the protagonist of its successful Kung Fu Panda 3 film, who transcends from a student of the martial arts to become a kung fu master, Oriental DreamWorks, which started out five years ago as a joint venture with DreamWorks Animation, is now independent.
Last week, the company’s Chinese shareholder, CMC Capital Partners, which invests in companies across the spectrum of content, platform, technology and services in media and entertainment, bought NBCUniversal’s 45 per cent stake and renamed it Pearl Studio.
Pearl’s chief executive, Frank Zhu, says CMC’s takeover underpins its vote of confidence in the Pearl team, which has absorbed the best know-how from Hollywood and built its own expertise, from creative development and production to commercialising the films it produces for a global audience.
“The Chinese shareholder’s full ownership will allow us to be even closer to the China market, to leverage CMC’s industry value chain and [resources] in the media sector,” Zhu said in an interview. Details of the deal were not disclosed, but the joint venture was valued at US$350 million in 2012.
Even as the Shanghai-headquartered company aims to be a world-class entertainment company for a global audience, it is well aware that its biggest market is at home.
China’s animation industry – film ticket sales and ancillary businesses such as product merchandising and spin-off productions – is forecast to grow at an annual compound rate of more than 10 per cent, according to PwC, which is also forecasting the industry to reach US$36 billion by 2022 from US$24 billion last year.
