European Animation

A new study says it has a ways to go.

Studiocanal, Aardman Animations, Ben Stassen’s nWave Pictures and Germany’s Constantin emerge as current drivers of Europe’s wide-audience movie animation industry, according to a pioneering study, “Focus on Animation,” which contains a wealth of pan-European and single-territory stats. ...

The hard facts in “Focus on Animation” put Europe’s still-young toon pic production sector in perspective: 3% of Europe’s movie production volume from 2010-14, European animation punched just 2.94% of its cinema theater sales.

Despite that, Europe’s toon production levels look to be powering up, though that has yet to feed through into bigger box office. Per “Focus on Animation,” a yearly average of 50 animation films were produced in Europe over 2010-14. ...

According to “Focus on Animation,” Japan (110 movies made) and the U.S. (109) ranked as the world’s biggest animation producers over 2010-14, followed by France (47), China (42) and Spain (28). ... European animation does travel better than its movies in general: Only 38.3% of European animation films’ admissions were generated in the main country of production, compared with 50% in the case of European productions of all genres. ...

U.S. filmed animation industry overperforms in its domestic market, Repping 2.8% of the U.S. production volume, U.S toon pics took 14.2% of total admissions from 2010-14. In contrast, 3% of Europe’s movie production volume, 2010-14, Europe’s animation punched just 2.94% of its cinema theater sales. European toon movies took a 2.96% U.S. market share from 2010-14, and just three films, “Gnomeo and Juliet,” “Arthur Christmas” and “The Pirates (Band of Misfits”), repped 75% of that trawl. ...

Why Gnomeo and Juliet from the Walt Disney Company, is considered "European" when it was produced in Canada and helmed by American Kelly Asbury, escapes me. But the study (article?) says what it says.

No mention here of Illumination Entertainment's highly profitable features, which are produced in France though controlled out of the Illumination Entertainment offices in Los Angeles. Maybe they didn't considered MacGuff's contributions as truly European.

What the "Focus on Animation" highlights is how dominant U.S. animated features are in the world market. There are plenty of long-form cartoons getting made across the globe, but for the most part they are niche players. Some make okay profits because they're costs are low and they end up with nice margins when all the receipts are counted. But there are few breakout hits from non-U.S. studios.