New Feature Studio

From Deadline:

Mili Pictures Worldwide, a new animation company based in China, has opened a Los Angeles and has tapped High School Musical producer Bill Borden to run it. The company, which is launching its first pic — the vidgame-based Dragon Nest — in July in China, has also set its first movie for LA pre-production: the comedy Ping Pong Rabbit.

Works is underway with Corpse Bride co-director Mike Johnson directing a script by High School Musical scribe Peter Barsocchini. Under the model, production will move into the animation process in China in the fall to take advantage of lower costs. ...

So another Chinese animation sets up a studio in L.A. to tap into the talent pool residing therein.

This model has been used before with varying degrees of success. Most recently, Chris Meledandri used it for pre-production for the Despicable Mes A few years back, Imagi Entertainment (of Hong Kong) used it with less happy results.

So we'll see how Mili Pictures does with its own version of the model. What really counts, is having good decisions made in pre-production. TAG will, of course, work to get a contract with Mili's studio. Wish us luck.