The Hollywood Reporter notes that China’s Light Chaser Animation Studios has just closed a $20 million round of Series B funding, with studio chief Gary Wang stating his ambition to be China’s answer to Pixar Animation Studios, “creating world-class animated films with a Chinese cultural touch.” The studio’s first animated feature, Little Door Spirits, is scheduled for release in 2015 with a budget of $12 million.
The round of venture capital funding is the latest sign of China’s intentions to compete in the international animated feature film market. After a long period of being outpaced by foreign animation (including Disney and Pixar features, SpongeBob SquarePants, and many Japanese anime titles), domestic Chinese animated features are achieving growing success in the market (internationally if not in the United States) and a growing number of higher-quality projects are under development.
