Oriental Dreamworks could face reshuffling and downsizing as the joint venture between China and Hollywood adapts to the fast-moving Chinese animation industry, Caixan reported.
In the recent period, even well-made animations from Hollywood find it difficult to fare well in China's film market.
In a statement, major stakeholder China Media Capital (CMC) shared that "the Chinese animation industry has been actively adjusting in coordination with the restructuring in Hollywood," adding that the "CMC will conform to the market changes and continue to seek overseas collaboration with leaders in production, creativity and distribution."
The CMC remark came out after entertainment publication Variety reported last week that Comcast Corp. is in talks to pull out its 45 percent stake in Oriental DreamWorks. Through its subsidiary, DreamWorks Animation, the U.S. media group is a shareholder in the $330-million China-Hollywood venture.
Industry insiders argue that Comcast is dropping out of the partnership as Hollywood's time-consuming and intricate production flow contrasts China's fast-paced animation industry.
"China's animation film market is still in many ways quite rudimentary, lacking skilled production personnel. Film investors in China want to make quick cash and need to see returns within 18 months. That does not agree with Hollywood's practice of often pouring three or four years into an animation," Li Bin, an editor-in-chief of a film industry news portal, explained.
Meanwhile, the same Variety report revealed that Oriental DreamWorks has also decreased the number of its employees by over 50 percent. According to CMC, the venture "will maintain a stable headcount of over 100 staff."
Though the CMC statement did not disclose whether the change in its owners is a possibility, it said that it has already commenced outsourcing some of its jobs.
Oriental DreamWorks was founded five years ago. The tie-up, which involves DreamWorks Animation, CMC, Shanghai media group and two other Shanghai government-affiliated groups, has only been able to work on four feature productions as of writing and has reaped "less-than-exceptional results."