Maybe They're Catching On

... that sub-contracting only takes you so far.

... Much of Asia's animation production since the 1960s has been tied to foreign interests attracted by stable and inexpensive labor supplies. For nearly forty years, western studios have established and maintained production facilities, first in Japan, then in South Korea and Taiwan. ...

The usual procedure is for pre-production to be done in the United States or other European countries, after which, the package is sent to Asia for production. The work is sent back to the U.S. or other headquarter country for post-production Offshore animation has led to the creating and nurturing of a local industry, as an infrastructure is built up, equipment is put into place, and skills are transferred.

An emerging trend in the Asian animation industry is the increasing focus towards production of local animation content for television as well as production of animated movies.

A number of Asian animation studios are giving importance to owning and protecting animation content by investing in intellectual property protection mechanisms. ...

Subcontracting studios understand how they're getting suckered. They do 90% of the work; American conglomerates vacuum up 100% of the profits.

I'm sure Asian studios look at the present setup and think: Wait a minute! We can do the whole picture, soup to nuts. And control the rights! Why are we taking pennies on the dollar?

Only it's not as simple as it looks. Show me an Indian or Chinese-produced animated feature, and I'll show you a feature that's had the allure of a damp fart at the global box office. (Roadside Romeo anyone? Alpha and Omega?) Chris Meladandri finally pulled off the feat of making an animated blockbuster outside the U.S.* but after Chris? ...

SFX Crickets.

* Mr. Meledandri had much of the story work done in Los Angeles on his first Illumination Entertainment production. The animation, of course, was done in that low-wage bastion known as Paris, France.