Korea Eximbank Boosts Global Promotion of
Korean-Made Animated Film
The Export-Import Bank of Korea (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman Kim Yong-hwan, “Korea Eximbank”) announced on October 28 that it provided KRW 2 billion in financing to Redrover, the production company of the soon-to-be-released animated film ’Nut Job’, to help fund its global P&A* activity.
* P&A (Print & Advertisement): activities including printing for film distribution, promotion, advertisement and public relations.
Redrover is aiming to release the film at over 3,000 U.S. theaters. This is the first loan ever extended by a Korean financial institution to a domestic animated film producer for the purpose of funding its global P&A activity.
The financing provided by Korea Eximbank is expected to boost Redrover’s global marketing and public relations activities for Nut Job, and thereby to raise its box-office sales up one notch in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Redrover’s direct involvement in the promotion of the film also prompted its Hollywood distributor Open Road Films to contribute its own funds to the global marketing of the film.
The P&A loan provided by Korea Eximbank will be used for marketing the film through posters, TV commercials, and other media.
The 3D animated film, set in the 1950s, tells the story of Surly the city squirrel and Buddy the rat teaming up in a nutty adventure.
The picture was co-produced by Korea’s Redrover and Canadian producer ToonBox Entertainment with a total production cost of KRW 36.3 billion.
Of that amount, Korea Eximbank financed KRW 5 billion in June.
Redrover concluded the distribution contract for the U.S. region with Open Road Films and is actively conducting P&A activities in the run-up to its U.S. release in January.
In June, Korea Eximbank had modified its loan system to allow financing for the global promotion activities of cultural contents firms.
Specifically, cultural contents companies became eligible for loans of up to 90% of their past global marketing expenses incurred from TV, radio, print, and internet advertisements regardless of previous export records.
Unlike most commercial banks that demand collateral to secure their loans, Korea Eximbank provides relatively low-interest, unsecured loans to cultural contents producers based solely on the expected business value of their contents.
Korea Eximbank is also planning to provide a loan to TUBAn, producer of the Korean animation character ‘Larva’, to finance the cost of registering a trademark for the character abroad.
Larva, whose trademark registration is pending in 30 countries, is the main character of an animated non-verbal slapstick comedy series about an insect larva’s life in the city.
TUBAn has aired Larva Season 2 in Korea this year, and is bracing to go global with its hit animated series.