CATDOLL: Alpha Animation and Culture Co., Ltd. join hands with Jujiao Animation to target the live-action animation market

On February 9, Beijing Jujiao Film Culture Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jujiao Film") announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation plan with Guangdong Alpha Animation Culture Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Alpha Animation"). This is the second time that Jujiao Film has obtained strategic financing after completing the B round of financing in 2014. Jujiao Film and Alpha Animation have reached a strategic cooperation, aiming to jointly create a big movie plan based on live-action animation. Next, Jujiao Film and its subsidiaries Jumo Films and Jumai Distribution will also carry out in-depth cooperation with Alpha Animation and its wholly-owned subsidiary Alpha Animation in IP (Intellectual Property) research and development, film and television production, film distribution, film marketing, derivatives and other links of the industrial chain, jointly opening up a new industry pattern for China's live-action animation movies.

Targeting the live-action animation market

The series of live-action animated film projects developed by Jumo Films, including "Duan Nao", "Chifeng" and "Zhenhun Street", have received nearly 1 billion hits on the online comic on-demand platform and have attracted the attention of tens of millions of fans. At present, these three works are in the intensive scriptwriting stage. Aofei Films said that the company will participate in the joint investment and development in the early stage, and will use a production team with international standards to create IP with the concept of Hollywood-style superhero movies. It is expected to be released in 2016. As a benchmark enterprise with a full animation industry chain, Aofei Animation will play a vital role in a series of market layouts of Jujiao Films in the field of live-action animation.

Jujiao Films was founded in 2009 and is one of the earliest domestic film companies involved in marketing. Currently, it has Jumo Films, a film production company, Jumai Films, a film distribution company, Juzhi Culture, a TV series production company, and Juxing Brokerage, an artist agency. It has established a comprehensive development strategy with "marketing" as the core to drive the production, distribution, theaters and other film industry chains. Jujiao Films has invested in and produced films such as "The Psychic", "Lovely You", and "Paris Holiday", which will be released in the near future.

In 2010, Let the Bullets Fly created a box office of more than 650 million yuan. During the marketing period, viral videos such as "The gangsters appeared in the subway" were widely circulated on Weibo, and Jujiao Films, the creator of this event, became famous overnight. In the past three years, Jujiao Films has transitioned from full-case marketing to honor marketing, completing the transformation from quantitative change to qualitative change. Jujiao Films has planned, executed and operated projects including Struggle, Hidden Marriage, The Piano in a Factory, The Best Friend, Those Years, The Girl We Chased Together and many other film and television dramas.

Deep development and mining of IP

Liang Wei, Chairman of Jujiao Films, is a new generation of cultural entrepreneur who has led the company to run all the way against the backdrop of the Internet and cross-industry. Liang Wei said: "Alpha Animation has an advantageous position in the fields of animation and derivatives. The strategic cooperation between the two parties based on high-quality IP projects will undoubtedly inject new impetus into Jujiao Films' expansion into markets beyond the box office. Alpha Animation is one of our most strategic shareholders."
Su Zhihong, general manager of Aofei Pictures, said: "Jujiao Films has accumulated rich experience and data in the field of film marketing, and also has high-quality IP with a strong fan base."

Aofei Pictures has the advantage of an international platform in film and television production, as well as a unique IP operation model. The strategic cooperation between the two parties is expected to deeply develop and tap into the IP that already has a fan base, and eventually jointly launch a phenomenal IP series of films.

Building China's live-action animation film industry chain

Jujiao Films and Alpha Animation have reached a strategic cooperation, aiming to jointly create a big movie plan with live-action animation as the main feature. Next, they will also carry out in-depth cooperation in the industrial chain, and the industrial chain of Chinese live-action animation movies will be reopened.
In 2005, when the live-action Transformers movie was being prepared for filming, many comic book fans found it hard to imagine: "How can these toys (Transformers originated from toy marketing) be made into a movie?" Seeing Optimus Prime really move on the big screen, they were excited beyond words. Although the movie version of Transformers has its shortcomings, it broke a wall for the success of this IP.

Marketing and animation "marriage" aims at the live-action animation market

As for whether anime adaptations can be successful, the key is the "audience", that is, whether the movie is made for fans of the original work, the general public, or both. The first type of representative works are "Watchmen" directed by Zack Synder and "Vice City" directed by Robert Rodriguez. These movies are shot completely according to the comics, perfectly copying the styling, dialogue and even storyboards, all for comic fans. The second type of representative works is Nolan's "Batman" trilogy. He extracted the story framework of "Batman", borrowed the spiritual connotation of Frank Miller's "Batman", and added his own expression content, which is interesting even for non-comic fans. The third type is what Marvel is doing and DC will do, a large number of comic adaptation movies represented by "Avengers" in recent years. Fans are satisfied and the audience is happy, and everyone is happy. Another type is a strange thing like "Batman & Robin", which is not made for anime fans and general audiences, but for toy manufacturers.

Reviews

"Alpha Animation and Culture has great ambitions and strives to develop in multiple fields. But the result of Alpha Animation, which started out as a toy manufacturer, going into animation is uncertain." An industry insider commented, "Alpha Animation and Culture has a complete industrial chain. It invests in works - "double benefits of TV stations + toys" - capital repatriation - investment in new works, but this does not mean that it has the ability to produce excellent works. Alpha Animation and Culture can only sell good peripherals."

Alpha Animation and Culture Co., Ltd. had previously invested in the animation and game fields, but failed miserably. On July 26, 2013, Guangdong Original Power Company launched "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: Happy Formula". On September 18 of the same year, Alpha Animation and Culture Co., Ltd. acquired Infoport Company and Guangdong Original Power Company under Ima International, including the "Pleasant Goat" brand. In October of the same year, Alpha Animation and Culture Co., Ltd. acquired Fangcun Technology and AiLeYou.

Fangcun Technology is a well-known mobile online game developer in China. Its first mobile online game, "Monster X League", is one of the most successful cute pet mobile online games in China so far. AiLeyou is a well-known casual game developer in China. The company has successfully developed a number of classic mobile games. On April 22, 2014, Alpha Animation and Culture announced the acquisition of 40% of the equity of Sanle Information and 40% of the equity of Waystar held by Dreamspace. Sanle Information is mainly engaged in the development, production and distribution of large-scale client online games. It is one of the most well-known original online game companies in China. Waystar's main business is investment holding and exclusive agency for the overseas distribution and sales of Sanle Information games, and provides technical support to Sanle Information.

Regarding Alpha Animation's frequent acquisitions, an industry insider said: "Alpha Animation may feel that this forced intervention method is not suitable for them, so they prefer the model of investment holding, performance commitments by the acquired companies, and money raising money. Facts have proved that Alpha Animation still did not win. Its net profit growth rate in 2013 fell by 10% compared with 2012. At the same time, its stock price fell and its market value evaporated by 1.2 billion yuan."