Foreign Labor

And as there is free labor via eager students, so are there foreign alliances with overseas super powers.

China may finally be opening up its animation market to foreign investment, with the latest word that none other than Disney (NYSE: DIS), arguably the world’s most famous brand in the field, is in talks with Internet leader Tencent (HKEx: 700) for a tie-up in the lucrative but largely undeveloped space. The media reports are rather vague, saying only that Tencent, China’s largest Internet company, is “communicating” with Disney about a potential animation development tie-up ...

This makes sense on any number of levels.

1) DreamWorks Animation has already done a deal with the Middle Kingdom.

2) We're talking a HUGE market here, and Disney is already building an amusement park in Shanghai (so why not this?)

3) John Lasseter is probably itching to fly to China and show the folks how cartoon-making is done.

There will be the inevitable It's going to China!" but I tend to think not. The idea with these budding alliances is to create domestic content and make money from a huge population base.

Besides which, I've watched "runaway production" for thirty-odd years, and it never works out the way originally planned. It took thirty years to achieve the first foreign-created animated theatrical hit, and it arrived from France, not Asia.

I don't expect California to be drained of animation work much before 2185.