Mili Pictures focuses on animated movies

When Jack Zhang founded Mili Pictures in 2012, he knew that more people in China would appreciate animated films. It turned out that the market grew even faster than he expected.

The success of Disney's animated film Zootopia - it made more than $235 million and became the highest-grossing animated film ever to play in China - confirms that the audience for animated films is not just children, but also adults, said Zhang, chairman of the film and entertainment company based in Shanghai.

"In the past, Chinese adults hardly watched animated films. They thought animation was for children. It's totally different today." he said. "With this new group of animation lovers, a great period is coming."

So Zhang's company is producing higher-quality animated films, and moving into new digital areas such as virtual reality.

Mili's new 3D animated film Dragon Nest: Throne of Elves is slated to be released in the summer. It tells the story of human juvenile Little Fish going to the distant elf kingdom to participate in the elf queen's wedding and meeting his elf girlfriend Liya, and what becomes an adventure of rescue and a test of the love between them.

It's the second feature to the Dragon Nest series, and Zhang is confident that the film is going to do a lot better than the previous one because of improved storytelling and production, and a bigger-than-ever anticipated audience for the movie.

The company is producing Ping Pong Rabbit, whose story and characters have been developed by a team of experienced international filmmakers, many of whom worked for Disney, at Mili's office in Santa Monica, California.

"We rewrote the story again and again. Now it's not a just Okay script; it's a really good script," he said. It tells the story of a rural rabbit named Robb hurls himself in pursuit of his province's biggest prize, a storied 'Jade Table' awarded annually to the finest ping-pong player in the land.

Mili opened its US office in May 2014. With a focus on reaching worldwide family audiences, it started a global content products line of animation and live action films. Ping Pong Rabbit will be its first international film.

Mili recruited another development team in the US to work on a second film, Young Titans, a story based in outer space. It will be produced as virtual reality content, an area Mili is developing. Mili also opened China's first virtual reality experience museum at its Shanghai headquarters, which it has expanded along with offices in Suzhou and Beijing, that together now employ more than 500 people.

The growing audience for animated films is presenting the opportunity for Mili to invest in high-quality productions and be profitable, Zhang said. He also said that after a year of working with the US team, the two sides have established trust.

"It takes time for the US team to believe that a Chinese company has the will and resources to make a high-quality film," said Zhang. "They have seen so many terrible Chinese films, and they doubt that if a Chinese company is willing to spend the time and money to develop a good story. Now after a year, they see our commitment, and we trust them."

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 06/01/2016 page2)