Reel FX Inc, an animation and visual-effects studio linked to the new movie Rise of the Guardians, is seeking partners in China to co-produce and handle post-production work on animated projects.

"We have been quietly meeting with a large number of representatives from China, laying the groundwork and relationships that are so very important to successful and mutually beneficial long-term cooperation," said Chuck Peil, vice-president of business development for Reel FX, which has production facilities at its Dallas corporate headquarters and in Santa Monica, California.

Peil stressed that no deals have been struck yet, and that the studio is proceeding cautiously.

"We have been very measured and methodical in that process, to be sure not to jump into anything too quickly but [also] to ensure that it is the right timing, with the right project and the right partners," he said. "Maybe a bit more like the tortoise than the hare."

Reel FX's 2005 animated short film The Man in the Moon (directed by William Joyce, author of the children's book of the same name) is the basis for Rise of the Guardians, the feature-length production of DreamWorks Animation SKG that premiered on Wednesday.

In addition, the studio has a number of projects in the pipeline including the 3-D live-action feature Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, which gets its US theatrical release on Dec 21.

Reel FX is the lead production studio for the movie, with Paramount as US distributor; the movie, starring the world-famous circus troupe for which it's named, was directed by Andrew Adamson (the Shrek and Chronicles of Narnia franchises) with James Cameron (Titanic, Avatar) as executive producer.

Reel FX also has a long list of upcoming animated projects with well regarded directors and producers: Day of the Dead (Guillermo Del Toro, Jorge R. Gutierrez), Beasts of Burden (Adamson's adaptation of a Dark Horse Comics tale, Aron Warner) and Turkeys (Jimmy Hayward, Craig Mazin; voices of Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson).

According to Peil, Reel FX has spent its 18 years of existence developing animation muscle to ensure world-class production for studio clients including Illumination Entertainment, Paramount, DreamWorks, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Co and Relativity Media.

"This has allowed us to continue to build our production capabilities while simultaneously evolving our original IP pipeline" he said, referring to intellectual property.

Peil said several of Reel FX's upcoming movie projects are pledged to US distributors that have partnerships in China. Relativity Media, for instance, was recently announced as co-producer and co-distributor on Turkeys. It will get the movie into US theaters and tap its partner networks for distributions in China, England and other territories

Other films on the Reel FX slate remain open for potential deals in China, Peil said.

"We value relationships that we strongly feel will integrate the best of the Eastern and Western disciplines in story, culture and production. Several projects we have could be a good fit for co-production; conversely, we also look forward to exploring fresh ideas with overseas partners."

The studio also has been active in establishing links to Chinese production companies as it expands its own output. It is critical to the US studio that it teams only with production houses that are innovative and deliver high-quality work, Peil said.

"One of the most important factors with animated properties," he said, "is working with an artist that can consistently deliver incredible character performance with the nuances, subtleties and comedic timing that Western audiences are accustomed to.

"It is always a balance of art and commerce, with the mandate to always deliver the highest-quality image for the dollar. And that means looking for new ways to accomplish that objective for our properties."

Because Reel FX also produces entertainment for television, theme parks and video games, it needs to have a partner that can work across platforms at a superior level of artistry and sophistication.

"The challenge for larger animation studios like ourselves is to balance the size of the studio with the work that needs to be completed, so having production partners that we can count on to scale up appropriate assignments is important," Peil explained.

The Chinese market is important to Hollywood and production houses like Reel FX in many ways, and an era of integration is only in its infancy, the executive believes.

China, he said, represents a huge opportunity for movies with an established audience as well as for collaboration on new ideas.

"The cross-cultural exchange is creatively the most exciting possibility - being able to jointly influence creative concepts, storytelling and execution that go both ways at the birth of an idea. To be successful, it has to be a very real fusing of sensibilities from both partners. A film that has international appeal is not truly international unless it finds its audience in China and the US."

Jonathan Jiang, founder of Dragon Dreams Entertainment and chairman of Original Force, which respectively are leading Chinese animation and computer graphics companies, said the best model at present tends to be a US-Chinese co-production.

"We all love Hollywood animations for their highly defined characters and the concept of humanity interpreted in a universal language," he said.

"Chinese producers and artists are learning quickly and eventually will make their own animations accepted by the international market. It will take some years, but it will come."

Even after years of tremendous growth, China's entertainment industry remains hugely underdeveloped. New construction is increasing the number of cinemas in the country by 20 percent a year, but at one screen per 115,000 people, China still has a paucity of movie theaters compared to other large countries.

kellyzhang@chinadailyusa.com