Tom And Jerry’s New Movie Is Chinese And It Makes Perfect Sense Why
A new Tom and Jerry film, Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass, arrives in US cinemas on 4 September, but it was not made with American audiences primarily in mind. The 3D animated feature was co-produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and China's state-owned China Film Group, directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Gang, and originally released in China in August last year, reflecting the characters' huge and long-standing popularity across Asia.
The film sees the wordless cat-and-mouse duo tumble into a world of Chinese mythology after chaos in a museum. Tom and Jerry, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for MGM in 1940, ran as 161 theatrical shorts until 1957, before a cheaper Czechoslovak-animated revival in the 1960s helped spread the format internationally. Because the characters never speak, their slapstick humour translated easily across language barriers, making them television staples in Japan from 1965, the Philippines from 1966, and China from the 1980s onward, laying the groundwork for this China-led production.
In short
- New Tom and Jerry film is a Chinese co-production, out in US cinemas 4 September
- It was originally released in China in August last year
- Reflects the duo's decades-long popularity across Asian television markets
Explained simply
Tom and Jerry are a cat and mouse whose rivalry is told through chases and physical comedy, with little or no dialogue. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera created them for MGM in 1940; their short films later reached television audiences around the world.
The characters became popular across Asia, including in China, where they have been shown since the 1980s. Their visual humour travels easily across languages, helping make them familiar to audiences beyond the United States.
The new film is a joint production by Warner Bros. and China Film Group, a Chinese state-owned company, and was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Gang. It places Tom and Jerry in a world inspired by Chinese mythology, reflecting the characters’ longstanding appeal in China.