The animated film investment market is overheated and there are hidden worries. Financing tens of millions of dollars based on just one design drawing

Looking at the domestic animation market,"Return of the Great Sage", which is known as leading the revival of domestic animation, is a watershed. In the past, animators dreamed of "tightening their belts", but then a large amount of hot money poured into the market."With a design drawing, you can get it. Tens of millions of yuan." At present, many animators are also worried about this "prosperity".

Original title: Investment in domestic animated films: From no one cared about it to a pile of hot money,

looking at the domestic animation market, with "The Return of the Great Sage", which is known as leading the revival of domestic animation, as a watershed. Previously, animators dreamed of "tightening their belts", and then A large amount of hot money poured into the market,"you can get tens of millions of yuan with a design." At present, many animators are also worried about this "prosperity".

A typical sample of animators who "work to make money to do animation"

"How difficult is it to finance animated films?" To this question, Liang Xuan, director of the animated film "Big Fish Begonia", which carries the hopes of many people, gave an answer. The sample was completed in June 2008 and was collected by the Pompidou Center for Contemporary Art in France and praised as "one of the most outstanding works of art". But it was not until 2013 that the investment was received. Before that, the entire team needed to continuously take on various commercial projects to support itself.

It is not just "The Big Fish Begonia" that has encountered financing difficulties. Tian Xiaopeng, director of "The Return of the Great Sage", once said that in the eight years of preparing this movie, half of the time was looking for investment, but it failed repeatedly. It was not until 2013, when the animation completion rate reached 70%, that investors were found at the Hong Kong Film Festival.

Gao Song, executive director of the animated film "Dragon Valley: Breaking Dawn", said that before "Return of the Great Sage", investment in animated films was indeed very difficult. "Early animators almost all worked and received commercial short films to support their dreams. At that time, many animators didn't get paid, and the money they earned was fed back into animated films." Gao Song said.

He recalled the process of making "Dragon Valley: Breaking Dawn". He only received 1 million yuan in the initial financing. This fund was only enough for preliminary planning. The main creative staff did not receive a penny's salary and endured for four months. It was not until after the samples were made that the producers received part of the additional funds.

"Such a small investment is almost unimaginable in Hollywood." Gao Song said that China's animated films have faced the impact of animation business empires such as Disney, DreamWorks and Pixar from the beginning."China animators are almost doing the same thing as Don Quixote challenging a windmill."

There are several major factors that are difficult to invest: long cycle, low industrialization, uncertain return

, long production cycle, low industrialization and unpredictable return rates, which have made it difficult to finance animated films before "Return of the Great Sage".

Animated film production cycles are long. "The pre-design of an animated blockbuster like" Kung Fu Panda "takes several years," said Zou Yi, a director who once produced the animated film "Mobis Ring" and vice president of Shenzhen Angchi Animation Design Co., Ltd."Domestic investors cannot accept such a long production cycle."

Some investors said that the main reason why many excellent animations cannot get financing is that the preliminary design cycle is too long, the time it takes to determine the story outline, script, etc., and some projects are even aborted. Investors at this stage generally will not intervene, and the producer can only bear the entire cost.

On one hand, there are investors who spend a lot of money, and on the other hand, there is a handicraft workshop-style animation company. The lack of industrial production efficiency is also a major reason affecting the financing of animated films.

As a producer of Dream Oriental Pictures, Gao Song often comes into contact with investors. He said that at present, most domestic animation companies are small and medium-sized, and many emerging small and medium-sized animation companies were established almost overnight. Companies established by a few animators have low production efficiency, lack production experience, and no stable production team. These make investors lack confidence.

"There have even been cases where animation companies have been unable to produce samples after investing, resulting in the final investor withdrawing funds." Gao Song said.

Li Jianping, dean of the Animation School of Beijing Film Academy, said that most investors need to see clear market prospects and performance. Many companies use their debuts to seek financing. How can they persuade investors to recognize them without previous successful works?

Peng Fei, executive director of the animated film "Frog Kingdom", said that many investors have not yet regarded animated films as films and lack enough investment confidence."In recent years, there are actually only a handful of animated films that have truly achieved box office success. On the one hand, the quality is not excellent and the story is poor. On the other hand, the film's profit model is single and it has not developed the commercial value of surrounding and IP brands."

"One design drawing raises tens of millions of yuan" The overheated investment market still has concerns.

"If anyone still says that financing animated films is difficult today, it is that the early design is really not good." Zou Yi, who is participating in the Angsi International Animation Festival in France, said. The animated film market after "Return of the Great Sage" can be described as the "golden age".

The huge success of "Return of the Great Sage" allowed investors to see the potential of animated films, and hot money continued to pour in. Gao Song said: "Sometimes, a design drawing can win tens of millions of yuan in investment."

At the beginning of this year,"Little Gate God", which invested 130 million yuan, ambitiously tried to dominate the Spring Festival, but in the end it failed at the box office, but the investment boom did not abate. Even some real estate investors have taken a fancy to the secondary consumption potential brought by animation IP and explored the development of theme parks and surrounding products.

Peng Fei is worried that the influx of hot money will cause "puffy" in the industry. "The result of the increase in costs is that investment doubles, but the production level does not improve." Peng Fei said.

On the other hand, as investors enter the animation market hoping to gain profits as soon as possible, some "fast food" animations have also emerged. Animated films that are crude in production, stiff in stories, unclear in target audiences, and enter theaters after hastily completed will make the entire market more impetuous.

Li Jianping suggested that investors should carefully understand the professionalism and persistence of the project team and master its creative history and professional foundation. At the same time, we should also respect the rules of the market and not let the creation of animated films become a tool to "make quick money".

Editor: Nancy