Rendered in China: Animation on the Cheap

by Jordan Yerman | June 1, 2008 at 07:06 am

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It was only a matter of time before film studios realized they could save a bit of cash by outsourcing labor-intensive tasks to China. While Hong Kong is renowned for live filmmaking, it is also becoming a destination for animation and CGI: with cheaper overhead, a film is not under as much pressure to knock it out of the park on opening weekend.

In business terms, it's only natural that foreign toon firms should subcontract to China -- it costs roughly half what it does in Hollywood, making it the logical place to send labor-intensive work. China's large workforce and cheap costs make it a great place for people to locate production in many industries.

On the animation front, Hong Kong's Imagi announced a partnership with Warner Bros. and the Weinstein Co., who together put up $27 million of the $32.5 million production costs on "TMNT" and have now agreed to distribute two new Imagi projects next year: the sci-fi ninja "Gatchaman" and the robot "Astro Boy."

Both Imagi pics are adaptations of well-known Japanese anime. Indeed, Japan remains the big regional player, to the extent that competition from Japanese toons and "SpongeBob SquarePants" prompted a clampdown on foreign cartoons a few years ago.