Big Fish & Begonia
| Big Fish & Begonia | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Chinese | 大鱼·海棠 |
| Directed by | Liang Xuan, Zhang Chun |
| Produced by | Wang Changtian, Liang Xuan, Zhang Chun |
| Written by | Liang Xuan, Zhang Chun |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Beijing Enlight Media[1] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country |
China South Korea |
| Language | Mandarin |
| Budget | CN¥30 million[2] |
Big Fish & Begonia (Chinese: 大鱼·海棠) is an upcoming Chinese-South Korean animated fantasy film directed by Liang Xuan and Zhang Chun.[3] It is scheduled for release in both 2D and 3D formats in China by Beijing Enlight Media on July 8, 2016.[1]
Development
The film, formerly titled "Big Fish & Chinese Flowering Crabapple," is directed by Liang Xuan and Zhang Chun. The story was inspired by a myth from the ancient Chinese Taoist classic Zhuangzi. The movie also integrates many stories from other Chinese classics such as Classic of Mountains and Seas and In Search of the Supernatural.[4]
Liang Xuan and Zhang Chun spent many difficult years together on the project. It began when they made a short film called Swallowtail Butterfly and put it online in May 2004. The film was well acclaimed and they decided to make it into a feature length film, forming B&T Studio in 2005. However, they couldn't get funding for the movie until 2007, when a small amount of money finally came in.
The two immersed themselves in the project, but the money quickly ran out. They finished the script in 2009, but, despite the fact that many investors were interested in the fantasy world made up for the film, no one believed that such a film could sell on the market. The project was filed away for several years and revived after Liang posted on Weibo in June 2013, China's microblogging website, asking for help and spreading word of the film. In 2014, South Korean animation studio Studio Mir joined the project to help with production.[5]
Many animation fans called it "the dawn of the Chinese animation industry" and voted it as the "most anticipated animated film." With many fans comparing the film to Spirited Away. The quality of the 30-minute clip, the great amount of the interest and later the great success of another top-grossing Chinese animated feature, Monkey King: Hero is Back, were the contributors that prompted Enlight Media to invest in the project.[2]
References
- 1 2 3 大鱼·海棠（2016）. cbooo.cn (in Chinese). Retrieved April 18, 2016.
- 1 2 "'Bigfish & Begonia': a movie 12 yrs in the making". China Internet Information Center. China.org.cn. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
- ↑ 大鱼·海棠 (2016). movie.douban.com (in Chinese). douban.com. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
- ↑ "'Bigfish & Begonia': a movie 12 yrs in the making". China Internet Information Center. China.org.cn. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
- ↑ http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-studio-behind-legend-of-korras-new-animated-movie-l-1772029313
External links
- Official website (Chinese)
- Big Fish & Begonia at the Internet Movie Database