Will a Chinese Disney or Studio Ghibli emerge? As appetite for animation in China grows, quality of domestic production improves
- Chinese animation died with the Cultural Revolution. One film is credited with reviving it by showing animated films can be for adults too: Nezha
- US and Japanese studios have led in animation, but Chinese animation is growing and getting better, and new markets opening. Soon it could be a major player
The world is in the throes of an animation boom. Audiences can’t seem to get enough of animated TV shows and films. In 2019, they raked in an astounding US$250 billion.
Today, three countries dominate animated film and television production and consumption: the United States of America, Japan and – a distant third – South Korea. But a fourth player is making itself heard, and looks set to take animated productions to another level, and make them a creative and economic force.
China has developed an appetite for cartoons.
According to the Global and China Animation Industry Report, 2019-2025, the value of China’s animation industry grew from 88.2 billion yuan (US$12.8 billion) in 2013 to 174.7 billion yuan in 2018. It is expected to have surpassed 200 billion yuan in 2019 and is forecast to reach 375 billion yuan by 2025.
These numbers would probably have been a shock to industry watchers in China even a decade ago. Back then, China’s animation industry was hobbled by a lack of consumer interest and of local talent.
Until very recently, Chinese consumers and producers viewed cartoons as exclusively for children. Abroad, Chinese cartoons were often dismissed as shoddy facsimiles of more established animation styles from America, Japan or Europe. But that has changed. Animation has found a huge audience of adults and children, Chinese animation has improved in leaps and bounds, and online streaming platforms are an efficient and lucrative means of getting cartoons to consumers.