Recently, HA Hoe-jin, CEO of RedRover, made a business trip to the US. HA finalized an agreement with Open Road Films, the distributor of The Nut Job in North America, and discussed the schedule and the direction of marketing for the film. We had an interview with HA about The Nut Job which will hit over 3,000 screens in North America in January of next year.

 

  
RedRover is a KOSDAQ-listed company in Korea which produces global 3D content. I believe that 3D technology mixes best with animation. The TV animation Bolts and Blip from RedRover, was already exported to over 100 countries around the world. The Beet Party, a vegetable animation show is shown on KBS TV in Korea and is distributed to South America via Disney Latin. All of RedRover’s works including the 3D theatrical animation The Nut Job are global projects.

 

  
We have been working on the film since starting to plan it at the end of 2008.  Lorne CAMERON, famous for writing Ratatouille, wrote the screenplay. The film depicts an episode that took place at a park in the 1950s. Bank robbers appear and the plot unfolds around animals such as chipmunks at the park. Liam NEESON, Katherine HEIGL, Will ARNETT, Brandan FRASER and Stephen LANG were cast as voice actors. These voice actors show how much this animation is anticipated as a major project in Hollywood.

  

  
This project costs a total of 36 billion won. About 10 billion won was funded in Canada while 23 billion won was funded in Korea. It is known to Hollywood that about 50 billion won was invested in this project including the investment for one year of the pre-production stage before we asked Lorne CAMERON to write the screenplay. It is the first time for an Asian animation to be released at more than 3,000 theaters in North America. Even Japanese animations have not achieved this. So, The Nut Job is like a trailblazer. Since it is unprecedented, we have had a lot of difficulties. We pitched the film to many major distributors before signing with Open Road Films. During the process, I heard many times, “Your film is funny and has good quality” and “Your film is better than those of Pixar.”

  
- Your company signed with Open Road Films for the secondary copyright in the North American market.

   
Special effects are the most expensive and labor-intensive part in the production of 3D animation films. The technological key is to make water, fire, fog and hairs look realistic. Animal characters in The Nut Job are hairy. Even Hollywood recognizes our technological prowess. Against this backdrop, we were able to select our major distributor. RedRover completed The Nut Job in partnership with Canada’s ToonBox Entertainment. RedRover and ToonBox Entertainment have earned a good reputation in North America thanks to the rave reviews of The Nut Job. As we engage in such a blockbuster, we are asked to participate in big projects by major productions and distributors in Hollywood. This is strong proof of Hollywood’s recognition of our production capabilities.

  

  

From the beginning of the project, we thought of distributing the animation globally due to cultural gaps. There is a cultural gap between the West and the East and among Korea, Japan and China. Such differences abound in the animation industry. We developed the project with a focus on children in the West even from its pre-production stage. Nearly no animation became successful by targeting the Korean market only. Pororo: The Racing Adventure is a special case. Although a Korean animation production project was directed in the West from the composition of its story, which belongs to its pre-production stage, it was difficult for a Korean animation to make a foray into overseas markets since technical parts were not verified. That is why we pushed forward with the production of The Nut Job in tandem with ToonBox Entertainment while targeting global audiences in the first place. Needless to say, we could have done the project in Korea. But in that case, we would have had trouble making a foray into overseas markets.

  

  
Due to the above-mentioned reason, we never considered such a factor as The Nut Job is our first 3D animation for theaters. But we tried to put Korean elements into the humor code of the film while taking the story into consideration. We are attempting to put Korean sentiments into our animations little by little. As The Nut Job targets overseas markets, we only sketched the overall story and allowed the screenplay writer do the rest. I believe that global projects with a lot of Korean sentiment will come out within the next ten years. I take pride in the fact that The Nut Job is laying the foundation for developing overseas markets based on Korean culture.

  

  
Animators of RedRover are working at ToonBox Entertainment in Canada. About 30% of the modeling and animating staff are RedRover employees. RedRover is in charge of 3D work. Korea and Canada will jointly work in post-production. Some of the work will be given to Korean subcontractors. RedRover animators are learning advanced technology and skills at ToonBox Entertainment. Their modeling skills are highly regarded in Canada.

  

   
We aim to premiere The Nut Job in Korea and North America at the same time. The week after Martin Luther King Day (Jan. 17th) Korea has Lunar New Year’s Day. So the film will premiere during the holiday. But the Korean market itself is not a big one. Globally, the Korean market including its TV animation market accounts for about 3% of the world's animation market. If we exclude its TV animation market, the Korean market accounts for less than 2% of the world animation market. The contents industry befits the new Korean administration’s economic policy to create more value. Animations can really create more value. The contents industry depends largely on creativity. So, this industry has great potential for growing the national economy. Korea already has a strong footing for advancing into overseas markets. I hope that the government will develop better policies and more investment will be made in this sector. Such investment should be made with long-term plans, putting profitability on the back burner. Then more animations will be produced and some works will be huge commercial hits. In particular, the animation business needs decisions by decisive investors.

   

  
We will take part in the Cannes International Film Festival along with Open Road Films. We will conduct sales activities as the producer of one of works that Open Road Films distributes. The Nut Job is creating a turning point for Korean animations. The animation is already well known in Hollywood. There are some elements that we have to overcome such as cultural gaps as the animation sector has a big global market as well as advanced technology. I think we need to localize our animation works through the development of stories that can appeal to local audiences and foster joint production instead of globalizing something that is Korean. Within the next ten years, we will successfully globalize Korean content. I believe that The Nut Job has successfully taken the first step. Korea’s cultural level is worth globalizing and Korean culture has enormous growth potential.