Huayi Brothers, a prominent Chinese film studio, revealed on Monday that it plans to roll out its own animation studio, which will be spearheaded by a Hollywood veteran. The Chinese film production firm revealed that it will be appointing Joe Aguilar, the former producer at DreamWorks Animation SKG and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, as the chief executive of its new animation unit.

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"The establishment of an animation company signifies that the company will enter the animated movie industry with world-class production skills," Huayi said in a statement to Shenzhen stock exchange. 

Aguilar helped DreamWorks establish its namesake across India. Aside from Aguilar, Huayi will also be appointing Markus Manninen as its art director. Manninen was behind the visual effects of Kung Fu Panda 3, according to Reuters.

In the coming weeks, the firm said it will announce additional Hollywood hires but refused to go into more specific details. 

Many Chinese companies are attempting to cultivate China's animated film industry. One such company is Oriental DreamWorks, which is a joint venture between DreamWorks Animation SKG, Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd., China Media Capital and Shanghai Media Group. It successfully co-produced the $330-million Kung Fu Panda 3 in partnership US-based DreamWorks.

China's animation industry has actually seen a boom in the past few months. Aside from the record-breaking Kung Fu Panda 3, the recent Disney Animation release Zootopia also managed to rock the Chinese charts and rake in $112 million ten days of its release in theaters.

Tagsanimation industry, hollywood, china, Joe Aguilar, Oriental DreamWorks