Digital Domain Media Group, parent company of visual effects studio Digital Domain, has struck a partnership with Beijing Galloping Horse Film Co. to set up a new vfx studio in China, aimed specifically at the Chinese market.
The two companies will each own 50 percent of the new Digital Domain-Galloping Horse studio, which will provide visual effects, animation and production services.
DDMG will provide technology and expertise in vfx and digital production. Galloping Horse will handle land, construction and build-out costs, as well as leading funding in China's capital markets.
DDMG topper John Textor said government grants and partner contributions have mitigated his company's risk on the project.
Textor told Variety that while eventually the new facility may become part of DD's global pipeline, DD already has facilities in Los Angeles, Vancouver and Florida, and a deal with Reliance, which has facilities in London and Mumbai.
"We're trying to upgrade the production values of the local (China) market which is huge and growing and may some day be bigger than our own," he said.
Textor said it will take years to train up local artists to Western standards. "Producing a Western film in that studio," he said, "is the least of our concerns.