A Chinese animation company has agreed to help fund construction of a speciality movie production studio in Bunbury which could see the South West town become a national centre of excellence.
The Shanghai Hippo Animation Design Company has joined forces with Bunbury-based Vue Group to establish a purpose-built movie production and training facility.
It’s understood the project will include a five-storey facility and take in up to 300 students for training per year.
Today’s signing of a memorandum of understanding between Alan Lindsay and Helen Clucas from Vue Group and Kerr Xu of Shanghai Hippo comes nearly a year after the two companies announced their first collaboration.
In December 2013 Vue Group and Shanghai Hippo signed deals to co-finance up to three films with the total production value exceeding $57 million.
The collaboration was expected to add $15 million to the South West economy for each year of production.
