Thaindian News

Panaji, Nov 28 (IANS) Hollywood, despite its burgeoning budgets, can no longer afford to make animation films exclusively for children, says Academy Award winning producer Hugh Welchman.

Speaking to reporters in Panaji, during the 42nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), where his latest film “The Flying Machine” was screened, Welchman Monday also said that the Indian animation hubs should now look to create their own products, rather than churn out work for foreign projects.

“Hollywood can only make animation films for both children and adults now. They cannot make films only for children, because they need to cater to a bigger market of adults too. They cannot leave that segment out,” he said.

He also said that one of the reasons why Disney, one of the most popular animation brand in the world, was struggling in face of competition from Pixar animation studios, was the overwhelming domination of computer graphic (CG) animation.

But times are changing in the animation landscape, according to him.

“The audience for animation is getting more and more diverse. Puppet animation is gaining in popularity and is very lucrative,” he said.

Welchman, who won the Academy Award for his film “Peter and the Wolf” in 2005, also said that a large part of his latest film “The Flying Machine” was put in place in a Chennai animation studio and that it was time that Indian animation studios started investing in good scriptwriters.

“They are servicing animations for external studios to make their money, but they need to back their own products. They need to invest in young scriptwriters which is needed here,” he said.