KK Animation which has Made TOFU Broke up, Foreshadowing the Winter of Animation Industry?

The original animation company KK Animation, which has produced works such as “Eat, Sleep, Pummel Dodo”, “Looney Bean” and “TOFU”, officially started to break up yesterday (September 27).

The predecessor of “KK Animation” was Shenzhen Ants Animation Design Co., Ltd., which was formally established in 2006. In 2014, KK Group, which was mainly engaged in real estate developing, acquired Ants Animation and officially entered the animation market. In February 2017, “Ants Animation” was also renamed “KK Animation”, which opened up a new layout in the field of domestic animation.

According to industrial and commercial information, in July 2017, the registration capital of KK Animation was 8.76 million yuan, of which KK Group held 56% of the shares, and Chen Hua, chairman of KK Group, held 44% of the shares. In April 2016, the legal person of KK Animation changed from Chen Hua to Chen Jiarong, who is the chairman of KK Animation.

In July last year, Chen Jiarong said in an interview with China Business News: “Entering the cultural industry and making animation is due to my personal interest. Now I am still reading comic books, I found that compared with Japan and the United States, China is lagging behind in the development of its animation. I hope I can contribute more to Chinese animation industry.”

As a masterpiece of KK Animation, “Doudou Series” has a history of more than ten years. As early as 2005, under the leadership of director Zou Yu, Ang Qi animation began to create the cartoon image “Doudou”; in 2012, “Doudou”‘s first short film “Lollipop” was quickly broadcast on major video sites,” Peas “acquired a large number of fans, but also enhanced the popularity of Ang Chi animation.

In 2014, the first season of the “Eat, Sleep, Pummel Dodo” series was officially launched. This animation also successfully attracted over 1 billion hits on the Internet. Since then, they have been on the line, “Eat, Sleep, Pummel Dodo, and Black Bean,” and “Eat, Sleep, Pummel Dodo, and Looney Bean” have all gained good reputation. At the same time, it has also won the Best Cartoon Award of “Golden Seagull” in the Asian New Media Film Festival, Top Ten Original Cartoon Images Gold Award, and the “Golden Dolphin” award of Xiamen International Animation Festival. The 3 seasons of “Eat, Sleep, Pummel Dodo” series has even become a textbook of the Film School of Florida State University.

After making some achievements in the production of shorts, KK Animation entered the field of animated films. However, this road has not only been very arduous, but has even become a “straw” of “crushing camels.”

Last summer, KK Animation launched their first original animated film “TOFU”, which tells a fantasy story in Chinese style based on the story of the King of Huai Nan – Liu An who cultivates himself according to a religious doctrine.

In the official propaganda, this animated film cost 200 million yuan. It not only assembled the director of the animation series “Eat, Sleep, Pummel Dodo” – Zou Wei,  the executive director of “Monkey King: Hero Is Back” – Guo Lei, as well as Meng Zhihui, the animation director who participated in the creation of China’s first 3D animated film Thru The Moebius Strip. The theme song was written by Wang Lihong’s cooperative lyricist – Vincent Fang  to create the theme song for the animated film, and even invited a person in charge of the focus fixing of the movie “Curse of the Golden Flower”; Avatar‘s layout design – Carl, and 3D visual effects producer Chuck; “Avatar” and “King Kong” TD consultant Tom.

On the one hand, “TOFU” and “Wolf Warriors Ⅱ” were launched almost at the same time. Last summer, the film of “Warrior 2” was crushed by the “War Wolf 2”, and the original unstable animation movie market The situation can be imagined.

On the other hand, although “Bean Fu Chuan” has invested heavily in production, the Chinese elements in the plot are quite new, but the “story” is still a shortcoming that is difficult to make up, plus the work itself does not have a strong IP blessing. Eventually, this two-billion-dollar animated film disappeared in the summer after harvesting 15 million box office.

In July last year, in the interview of CBN, Xiong Wei, executive vice president of Jingji Group and vice chairman of Jingji Animation, said: “Jingji is investing in animated films with its own funds. So far, in animated films. The investment has exceeded 200 million yuan. Last year, the animation industry’s revenue was only a few million, and the entire group’s revenue accounted for a small proportion. “At the same time, he also said that the group still hopes that the animation company can achieve self-hematopoietic function, Instead of blindly relying on blood transfusions from real estate and other industries, the initial investment is inevitable.

In March of this year, Jingji Animation also launched a preview of the 3D animation “Shan Hai Xing Ling Ji”. But nowadays, this work that has not yet been “born” probably has no chance to meet us.

Last year, although “Bean Fu Chuan” made Jingji Animation lose nearly 200 million yuan, but the Jingji Group’s huge volume in the real estate industry, this investment is not hurt. Xiong Wei also vowed to declare that “Jingji does animation and does not want to make quick money. It is expected that we may have to do it for five years or even ten years.”

However, in a blink of an eye, even the second animated film has not yet started shooting, and the Jingji Group hastily evacuated the animation industry. The news that Jingji Animation’s suspension of business has been dissolved is a bit sudden at first glance, but if you consider the recent real estate market, there are already signs:

The real estate industry in September was very miserable, and many real estate developers began to feel the cold winter.

Last Friday, a file that canceled the pre-sale system was like a blockbuster in the real estate industry. Although the Guangdong Housing Association quickly rumored that “the file is only for consultation,” the property stocks still fell collectively. The whole line is green.

An unconfirmed file caused a big commotion. It can be seen that the real estate industry that smelled the winter in advance has already had some cups and snakes since the country began to comprehensively regulate it.

2018 is the turning point of real estate, which has become an industry consensus. Since the beginning of this year, several real estate developers have changed their names and removed the word “real estate”. “Longhu Real Estate” has become “Longhu Group”, “Jingjing Taifu Real Estate” has been renamed as “Jingjing Taifu Group”, “Time Real Estate” has been renamed as “Time China Holdings”, and “Wanda Commercial Real Estate” has been renamed as “Wanda Commercial Management”. and many more.

This wave was renamed and it was pushed to the peak in September this year: On September 12, “Poly Real Estate” was suddenly renamed “Poly Development Holdings” and “Vanke Real Estate” was changed to “Vanke Development”.

The speech of the chairman of Vanke’s board of directors, Yu Liang, at the monthly regular meeting in September in the southern region, directly put the fact of “real estate winter” directly on the counter. He believes that the first thing that Vanke will do in the future is to conduct a strategic review. The specific business operations are “convergence” and “focus”, with “live” as the ultimate goal.

If China’s largest developer’s future goal is only to survive, then how “cold” the real estate industry is in the future is also conceivable. The sudden death of Jingji Animation is probably the business convergence that Jingji Group had to carry out in order to “live” in the “real estate winter”.

Many real estate developers have been willing to invest in animation companies, because even if they don’t make money for the time being, this is also a step in the group’s involvement in the emerging cultural industry, seeking innovation and diversification. If you can find new profit growth points through cultural industries such as animation, then real estate developers can carry out the layout of subsequent industrial upgrades.

However, with the arrival of “real estate winter”, the landlord’s family has no surplus, and animation is naturally the first in the group to be cut off.

For the animation industry, this may not be the worst news: the worse news is that not only the real estate enters the cold winter, but the game industry is also entering the cold winter.

Since the beginning of this year, the market value of China’s listed game companies, led by Tencent, Netease, Giants and Perfect World, has shrunk dramatically. The release of the version number and the implementation of the “Integrated Prevention and Control Child and Youth Myopia Implementation Plan” have caused considerable impact on the game industry. Big blow. Recently, it was the news that several game giants began to lay off employees.

Compared with the real estate industry, this round of “game winter” may have a greater impact on animation: in the domestic animation industry chain, it has always relied on authorized IP for the development of games and TV dramas. The game has become a lot of animation companies. One of the important pillars.

If you feel the cold winter in the most profitable real estate and game industries in the past few years, what about animation? Deeply dig holes, gather food, and prepare for long-term hard work.

Source: Animation Academics Association