CATDOLL: The new work "Underdog" directed by the Korean animation "Chicken Mom and Duckling" is revealed

The new work plan of Oh Seung-yoon, the director of "Chicken Mom and Duckling", which attracted 2.2 million viewers in 2011 and set the record for the highest number of viewers for a local animated film in Korean film history, was recently revealed. The film is called "Underdog" and is centered on a stray dog ​​named "Tuanzi". It is expected to be released in Korea during the summer of 2017.

Underdog poster

According to Korean media reports, director Oh Seung-yoon is making an animated film "Underdog" with stray dogs as the main characters. The film tells the story of an abandoned stray dog ​​"Tuanzi" who embarks on an adventure with a group of stray dogs in an uninhabited place. The script has been in the works for three years and was finally completed after seven drafts. Unlike the previous work "Chicken Mom and Duckling" which was adapted from the original fairy tale, this completely original story made Director Oh feel a lot of pressure.

Director Wu said that the inspiration for "Underdog" came from a variety show. "It seems that when "Chicken Mom and Duckling" was released, I happened to see a program called "Animal Farm" on the weekend morning. A puppy on TV stared at the camera listlessly. At that time, I felt that it seemed to be looking at me, which made my heart tighten. That program was filmed at a stray dog ​​protection center. The expression and body of the dog in the camera seemed to tell its story. Since then, I have come up with the idea of ​​filming a stray dog ​​story, but I have no idea how to shoot it, but I think it must be a family movie that combines realism and animation."

Director Oh Seung-yoon

Although the protagonist is a stray dog, Director Wu emphasized that this is also a story about people. "Some people can recognize their own handsomeness and live, but some people live passively, hiding or even gradually losing themselves. 'Tuanzi' does not rely on humans, but is placed in a state where he must survive alone. So this is also my story. What I want to do and what kind of person I am, I need to keep thinking about it. Even if I can't achieve what I want in the end, I will continue to work hard for it."

"Chicken Mom and Duckling" is a pure 2D animated film, while "Underdog" plans to be produced in 3D while maintaining the 2D effect of the picture itself. The final effect may be similar to the 3D conversion of "Havoc in Heaven". Currently, there are more than 10 members of the art team and the director team working on the script. In order to reduce the budget, the manpower requirements are currently minimized. After the script is completed at the end of the year, it is estimated that more than 100 people will join the film production, including the photography team and the outsourcing company. The current budget for the film is 5.3 billion won (32 million RMB), of which the pure production cost is 330,000 won (about 20 million RMB). It is planned to be released in the summer of 2017.

"Chicken Mom and Duck Boy", released in 2012, even beat "Rio" which was released in the same period.

The previous work of director Oh Seung-yoon of "Underdog", "Chicken Mom and Duckling", tells the adventure story of a hen named Yaya, with two top stars Choi Min-sik and Moon So-ri participating in the dubbing. The film was released in South Korea on July 28, 2011, and remained in the top ten box office for six consecutive weeks. It eventually broke the highest box office record of Korean local animated films with an incredible 2.2 million viewers, and even beat the Hollywood animated blockbuster "Rio" released at the same time, which can be said to have created a new era for Korean animated films. In the same year, the film was also released in major theaters in the mainland during the National Day on September 30 and received rave reviews.