French and Chinese Studios Team For 'Old Street'

Over recent years, increasing numbers of animated features have been made as international co-productions. While smaller studios still can't compete with the huge multi-million dollar budgets that the major Hollywood studios have, it allows them to produce more ambitious projects than they could alone.

French studio Ankama previously teamed up with Japan's Studio 4°C on the adult animated feature Mutafukaz. They have now announced they will next be partnering with China's Benlai Pictures on the more family-friendly feature Old Street.

Old Street is an adaptation of a Chinese comic book by Nie Jun. Set in Beijing, the story follows the relationship between an old man and his great-granddaughter. The film will be made in 2D and will be based on the watercolour illustration style of the book. As you can see in the image above, it looks to be pretty charming, and somewhat reminiscent of films such as My Neighbours The Yamadas, Ethel and Ernest and The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales.

The film is looking to tap into the Chinese and French audience's sense of nostalgia. "We were looking for a project that speaks to a Chinese and French audience. What’s interesting about this film in China is there is a young generation today that is very much looking to revisit their roots. There is a nostalgia of old Beijing and this also speaks to a French audience," said Ankama producer, Frédéric Puech.

While that may be the case, this sounds like it could have international appeal, so we hope to see a release in English-speaking countries too! No release date has been announced yet.

[source]