With an investment of 30 million yuan, CCTV is making a new Monkey King cartoon series with 52 episodes, which is expected to be on show in the middle of this year. Although the final product hasn't been completed, an auction for its image rights has started.

Our reporter Zhao Kun has the story.

Reporter:
One of the most popular cartoon characters for Chinese viewers, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, has been frequently adapted by various producers. Once again the famous character is coming back on CCTV in June and is expected to be a cartoon hit this year. This time, the Monkey King is not only put on duty to defeat demons and guard his master but is also on a mission to make more money.

A recent auction in Beijing has drawn over 60 companies from around the country, all bidding for rights to use images from its production. Cheng Bo is the marketing consultant of the cartoon. He stresses that the transaction of copyright and images should be conducted in advance. In this way, he says, the successful bidders will have the time to design and produce their official merchandize.

"In the past, cartoon producers didn't do a good job in developing official merchandize. In most cases, they didn't look for business partners until the productions were on TV. As a result, the commercial potential value could not be fully tapped."

A latest online survey shows that among the Top 20 cartoon characters for Chinese teenagers, 19 are Japanese-born. The remaining one is from China – none other than the Monkey King himself. Related products of many classic characters from Chinese cartoons can hardly be found today. Here's Cheng Bo again.

"Compared with the big production volume in our animation industry every year, the revenues are quite small. People in the trade merely work as producers but haven't done enough in promotion and merchandize development."

In America, official merchandize and its authorization usually fetch their cartoon producers more than 60 billion dollars each year. For example, Walt Disney has authorized over 3,000 companies globally to make a variety of Disney-related products. Li Yuanjun, chairman of a cartoon company in China, says the production of an animation film should take place simultaneously with the development of its official merchandize.

"The shelf life of a cartoon production is usually very short. So if you haven't marketed the products in advance, you will probably miss the chance to make more money, even though audiences may have become familiar with the characters."

In addition to marketing capability, some experts point out China's animation production skills also lag behind. More well-produced cartoons is the need of the hour. Meng Haidong, an official of Beijng Cultural Development Center, says

"Animation producers should seriously try to move audiences and touch them deep in their hearts, instead of being obsessed with commercial earning. If you've got good cartoons to offer, the market will naturally come to you."

For China Drive, I'm Zhao Kun.