Dino Time is waiting for its release. Will Dino Time be able to succeed like The Nut Job did in North America in January 2014 Let’s take a look at how Korean animations produced with global strategies will be able to make a foray into overseas markets.     

 

Dino Time co-produced by Motif RMC and Toiion confirmed that the film will hit the North American box office in June. Although the number of its screens has not yet been set, it is expected that the film will run on roughly 200 to 300 screens. Dino Time was originally scheduled to hit 2,500 screens in North America in 2012. But the plan was canceled due to a corporate reason of its distributor. Will Dino Time follow The Nut Job by making a hit in the market?

 

Dino Time, like The Nut Job, was produced based on a global strategy. The Korea Creative Content Agency gave support to The Nut Job in 2010. Dino Time was produced with support from the Korean government, which designated the animation as a global contents development project. The two films indicate that they are targeting global audiences rather than using Korean materials although it received support from domestic organizations. The Nut Job was co-produced with the U.S. and Canada, while Dino Time was made solely by Korean companies. But their common denominator is that they chose globalization strategy. The two focused on very universal themes, free from any timely restrictions or cultural differences. Also, both producers of the films hired familiar Hollywood actors for the voices, making it easier for audiences around the globe to enjoy the films.

 

First of all, The Nut Job put forward animals as its lead characters. As shown in innumerable animations of Disney and the fact that children around the world have animal friends, such a choice can attract any audiences regardless of their age and gender. The Nut Job is about a struggle of a chipmunk named Surly with his friends who try to steal peanuts. The film contains a universal theme of friendship in a commotion triggered by Surly and his friends. In the case of animations targeting children, they usually contain some type of a life lesson. In The Nut Job, the film naturally tells such lessons, which is implemented in the story, without being too serious or being too didactic about it.

 

Three kids and a dinosaur are the lead characters of Dino Time. Ernie is a troublemaker with strong curiosity, Julia is a cute telltale and Max is a science genius. The trio travel back in time to the Cretaceous period when the world was dominated by dinosaurs and enjoy an exciting adventure. Dinosaurs and time travel are popular themes among kids. One important point here is the races of the three friends. Ernie and Julia are siblings who are white, while Max is Hispanic. Namely, the director pursued racial variety. The director broadened the scope of the characters’ races so that children around the world will not feel left out. Tyrannosaurus, often a violent and cruel type of dinosaurs was set as a motherly character in order to preclude children from having prejudice. 

 

The two films are characterized by the fact that they do not get out of themes popular among children such as families, friendship, adventures, and chose themes devoid of cultural objections. Needless to say, it would have been impossible to come up with such themes with just the Korean staffs on board. Both films involved North American staff members during their production processes. Animators of Dino Time were all Koreans where Korean technologies were used. But many areas of the film including its script actively involved foreign human resources. The writing team of the popular TV series Friends took part in the screenplay, while a producer who worked in the Hoodwinked series came together with the director and created sentiments that can appeal to people around the world. The production company had looked towards children, especially North American kids, as the film’s target audiences from the beginning, and produced it with consideration of what was popular among the young. 

Another feature of the two films is that popular Hollywood actors took part in them as voice actors. This is because their voice acting could generate huge publicity effects and make the qualities of the voice acting more reliable. Will Arnett, Katherine Heigl and Liam Neeson acted with their voices in The Nut Job. Dino Time used the voices of Melanie Griffith and Rob Schneider while real brothers Stephen Baldwin and Alec Baldwin acted as the villains, Sarco Brothers.

 

In the case of The Nut Job, this strategy paid off handsomely. The Nut Job pulled in USD 64.25 million in total in the North American market. This means the animation earned the most among Korean films screened in the market. In addition to the North American market, the film was exported to 140 countries. In Canada, The Nut Job topped the Canadian box office at number one for three consecutive weeks. In total, the film brought in USD 130 million (KRW 144.4 billion) worldwide, selling tickets and ancillary rights.

 

Dino Time also began pre-selling copyrights to Eastern Europe and Russia in 2013 before making a foray into the North American market. Then the film landed in Europe and earned USD 7 million (KRW 7.6 billion). These results exemplify that the film has been receiving good responses from worldwide audiences. Red Rover, the producer of The Nut Job is preparing Spark(working title) and The Nut Job 2 in the same fashion. The success of The Nut Job and Dino Time proves that Korean animations’ globalization strategies bring positive results. Although all animations will not make inroads into overseas markets with the same strategy, at least the two films pioneered another way for Korean animations to choose.

 

They proved that the saying ‘The most Korean thing is the most global thing’ does not work in the animation market. Universal themes and familiar materials outweigh all other elements in animations.