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Thailand Getting Serious About Animation

Paul Younghusband discovers the Thai’s keen to make their country not just a world-class destination for tourism, but for animation too.

I’ve never met anyone who has visited Thailand and had a bad word to say about the country. Great people, amazing food, beautiful scenery, rich culture. It truly is a great place. But until recently I’d never met anyone who had mentioned Thailand and animation in the same sentence. So when I was asked to fly across the Pacific to learn more about the Thai animation industry, I did not expect it to be a very exciting assignment. At least I’d get to eat some good curry though? As it turns out, Thailand is not a bad place to be involved in animation. They are facing the same challenges as any country, but in a lot ways they are well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities in the growing international marketplace. Allow me to elaborate…

During my first couple of days in Thailand I met with the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI), the Software Industry Promotion Industry (SIPA), Creative Chiang Mai and several other organisations, both government funded and independent. One thing became clear: they all want foreign investors to open up animation studios in Thailand.

Traditionally, agriculture and manufacturing industries have dominated the country. And while these industries are still strong, they aren’t strong growth markets any more. As Thailand moves towards improving the overall standard of living for its people, it is becoming less competitive in industries where competitiveness is determined by who can provide the cheapest labour (that doesn’t mean labour here is expensive, the minimum wage is around $10 per day, but this is still higher than in some parts of China, for example). But there’s more to it than this. As Thailand develops there has been a change in the psyche of those in business and industry. To put it bluntly - they are no longer content with being a source of cheap labour to manufacture other peoples stuff. They want to innovate and develop their own stuff. And they’ve set their sights on a number of digital industries, including animation.

Still from last year's Katana Animation Studios' feature film 'Echo Planet.'

The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) has placed the animation industry as one of their highest priorities when it comes to attracting foreign investment. Any foreign companies wishing to open an animation studio in Thailand can take advantage of generous tax breaks, fast track visa applications for their employees and support with regards to networking with other Thai businesses. Most importantly, foreign companies wishing to open a business in Thailand are usually bound by limitations as to how much of the company they can own. A percentage of the business, which varies depending on industry, must be Thai owned (this is the case in several Asian countries). But these restrictions have been lifted for the animation industry, meaning foreign investors can own 100% of their Thailand-based animation studio.

In addition to this, SIPA (the Software Industry Promotion Industry) was established by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) back in 2003 with the specific aim of promoting the development of the software, animation and game industries. SIPA are actively involved in supporting Thailand’s 70 or so animation studios (most of them are small, less than 10 people), assisting with everything from training to business matchmaking. On of their key aims is to link Thai animation companies with other Asian studios, so that they can build relationships that could help them grow their business.

Another area where SIPA is prominent is education. Thailand currently has around 25 universities that offer animation programs, each one producing around 1,000 graduates per year (based on 2011 figures). This number is growing thanks to SIPA investment. When I talked with folks from Chiang Mai University College of Art and Technology they told me that they were producing around 100 animation graduates per year, 50% of whom are getting jobs in the industry after graduation. The school is working closely with industry to ensure they are providing students with the right skills. Admittedly, they don’t always get it right. But they’re trying to adapt quickly and are investing in technology. It’s hard to find fault with their drive to produce the best students possible, even if they are at a huge competitive disadvantage compared to western schools.

'Echo Planet' concept art.

But to understand the domestic market for animation in Thailand, I needed to speak to more than just schools and government agencies. I wanted to speak with animation studios to find out who is buying animated properties? Are the Thai studios making any money? Is there an appetite among Thai consumers for animated movies and TV shows? Getting answers to these questions was not as simple as I thought!

Kantana Animation Studios is the largest animation studio in Thailand, and pretty much the only studio making animated feature films for the Thai market. Kantana operates a large studio back-lot in Thailand, where many live action features for the Asian market are shot. They also have, by Asian standards, a fairly advanced post-production facility located on the outskirts of Bangkok. They have their own television station, for which they produce a slew of original content for the Thai TV viewers. If anyone is poised to make waves in the Thai animation market, it’s Kantana.

So far their animation wing has churned out three features. They released Khan Kluay in 2006, a sequel to the movie in 2009, and their most recent film Echo Planet, released last year. All of these movies topped the Thai box office on their opening weekend. Khan Kluay even spawned a television series. But from my calculations, and reading between the lines, it appears the films struggled to make any real profit at the box office. The movies grossed something in the region of $2-$3 million in Thailand, which is about what they cost to produce. By US standards, these movies would be considered bombs.

'Echo Planet' previs.

Of course, this doesn’t take into account ancillary revenue streams such as merchandising, which do exist for these movies. But are Kantana making any real money from their feature animation business? As with most studios, they were playing things pretty close to the vest and no one would reveal any numbers or answers. But when I asked them what they were currently working on, they informed me that they’re doing client service work to raise money for their next feature, which kind of answered my question. There have been five animated feature films made by Thai studios for the Thai market. From everyone I spoke with, it’s estimated that only one of them may have turned a small profit.

And this is the problem for Thailand. There just isn’t a big enough domestic appetite for animated features. Even the highest grossing animated movie of all time Frozen, which made over a billion dollars worldwide, took in only $1.5 million at the box office in Thailand. Some of the biggest Pixar movies are making a meager few hundred thousand dollars. In contrast to that the highest grossing live action features are hitting something in the region of $10 million. It becomes clear that producing feature animation for the Thai market is a bad bet.

But what about television? If getting answers to my questions about the feature animation market in Thailand was difficult, getting some information as to the size of the TV marketplace was near enough impossible. I did see a young monk (yes really, a monk!) watching Power Rangers, so I’m assuming children’s TV does in fact exist in Thailand. My questions regarding TV animation were usually met with polite smiles and shakes of the head. Nothing to see here folks. However, I did discover that Thailand is about to roll out digital TV; 24 new channels, three of which are dedicated to children. While this could present Thai animation studios with an opportunity to develop children’s television properties, several people I spoke with doubt that the networks will have the finances necessary to invest in original animation. It is more likely they will simply syndicate shows from elsewhere.

Still from The Monk Studio's 'Nine.'

As I sat night after night nursing Chang beers, I couldn’t help but wonder that if the market for animation in Thailand is so tiny, but there are studios capable of producing reasonably good work at a relatively low cost, why aren’t these companies developing IP aimed at an international market? It appears that Kantana attempted to do this to a degree with Echo Planet. The environmental theme is universal and the look of the film was somewhat westernised. But they made one big mistake. The movie is a Thai language film dubbed in English. While English language films being dubbed for Asian markets is the norm, American producers are unlikely to get on board with a dubbed Thai film. There simply isn’t a track record of box office success in this area.

Then I visited The Monk Studios, and I realised if anyone in Thailand can overcome the challenges of being an animation studio in Thailand, it’s these guys! Owned by ex R&H VFX artist Juck Somsaman and his brother Nitipat, The Monk Studios is a team of around 150 artists producing animation and visual effects for film and television. Their credits include Rango and Star Wars: Detours, and their recent short film Nine has won a slew of awards at film and animation festivals around the world. Monk has been developing a number of original properties for film and television, targeted at markets such as China and Japan. They are actively looking for production partners and pitched a couple properties at MIFA back in April.

Artwork from ''Nine.'

And this is exactly what needs to happen if Thailand is to grow its animation industry. It needs to look outwards and partner with foreign production companies to produce original properties aimed at markets where demand is high. The country is well placed to tap into the Asian markets, and I can’t see why with the right partnerships, Thailand can’t produce high quality and commercially successful animated films and television shows.

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Paul Younghusband is a producer and writer based in London. He has previously served as editor of Visual Magic Magazine, and has contributed to publications such as VFX World and Animation World Magazine.