“Deep Sea”, an innovative Chinese-made animated film that has been touring the international festival circuit this year, will be released in North American theatres later this month.
Theatrical rights were acquired by Viva Films from Dutch-Chinese sales company Fortissimo Films. Viva is planning a 24 November release with Chinese and English dubbed versions and a PG13 rating.
The fantasy adventure tells the story of Shenxiu, a girl who has felt a deep sadness since being abandoned by her mother. While on a family cruise, she falls into the sea and breaks into the Deep Sea Restaurant, where she meets the resourceful underwater chef Nanhe and embarks on a journey between dreams and reality.
“Deep Sea is a 3D animated film directed by Tian Xiaopeng (“Monkey King: Hero is Back”) and produced by YI Qiao (“Nezha”) through October Pictures and Coloroom. Tian and his team developed a particle-based CG technique to create 3D images from abstract Chinese ink paintings.
The film was released commercially in China in January, in time for the Chinese New Year holiday, and grossed around $133 million. It went on to play at the Berlin Film Festival, as well as the Neuchâtel, Melbourne and London festivals.
In North America, the film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival before playing at Philadelphia and Fantasia (Montreal).
Fortissimo has previously licensed the film for release in France (via distributor KMBO), Italy (Lucky Red), Germany (Leonine Studios), Turkey, UAE (Sky Entertainment) and Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia (Aike Limited).
