View the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpaVY8Zq9LQ –Kirk
Source: China Real Time, WSJ (6/30/16)
A Chinese Rock Star’s Hollywood Project: ‘Rock Dog’
By Lillian Lin
The 3-D film ‘Rock Dog’ follows a rock-loving Tibetan mastiff s journey to a big city to become a musician. PHOTO: HUAYI BROTHERS
Animation has long been a weak spot for China’s film industry. Now, a Chinese rock star is trying to change that, making an animated film for global audiences with Hollywood’s help.
Zheng Jun helmed “Rock Dog,” based on a popular namesake comic-book series he created and published in 2009.
The 3-D film, which follows a rock-loving Tibetan mastiff ’s journey to a big city to become a musician, was directed by Ash Brannon, who co-directed Pixar’s smash hit Toy Story 2 (1999), and animated by Reel FX, an award-winning American digital studio. Its English version is dubbed by a number of Hollywood veterans including the Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons.
China’s leading film studio, Huayi Brothers Media Corp., and a number of big-name Chinese investors, including Deng Feng, founder of Northern Light Venture Capital, and Xu Xiaoping, founder of Zhenfund, contributed most of the film’s $60 million production budget, an impressive budget for a China-produced animated film, which usually takes no more than a couple of millions to make.
Compared with other Chinese commercial films, it is more difficult to find money for an animated film, which takes longer to make and is usually regarded as children-only in China.
Mr. Zheng said it was difficult to get funding for the film, especially given no successful case to learn from about how to hire the best Hollywood team to produce an animated film that “promotes good values in oriental and Chinese culture”.
“I am a really crazy person so [the investors] might think only lunatic can make it happen,” the 48-year-old recently told China Real Time in Beijing. He added that he identifies with Bodi, the main character in the movie, both “dreaming about changing the world with a battered guitar.“
Mr. Zheng, who studied international trade at university, said his English ability emboldened him to travel to America to discuss the script and find the right production team.
“We were able to persuade those great animators to work for this film because they liked the film’s story,” said Mr. Zheng, a fan of Disney’s animated film “Zootopia.” “Those people used to play music or band themselves.”
But the process of leading a cohort of Hollywood veterans was “very, very difficult.” “I had to fire several of Hollywood’s best screenwriters because they insisted on their ideas,” he said.”If we had followed those ideas, this film will be a pure Hollywood film which doesn’t have much to do with us.”
“I was crazy but not stupid,” he said, adding the film is scheduled for release in mainstream movie theaters in North America later this year.
But the battle for the film continued after production wrapped up, as the local promotion, including promotional tours to theaters around the country, kicked in, and its intensity was “eye-opening”, Mr. Zheng said.
“I was told that making a cool film is not the most important thing,” he said, hours before flying to Tibet for the next tour. ”What is even more important is the marketing.”
Asked whether he would produce another film, “I was planning to do that but now I may need to think twice,” he said, citing the punishing touring schedule.“I am completely exhausted.”
The Chinese version of the animal-centered animation is expected to be released in China on July 8.
–Lilian Lin. Follow her on Twitter @LilianLinyigu