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Red Empire Productions, an Australian hybrid-AI studio, and Organic Media Group are joining forces to create “Alishan Escape: A Mandopop Ghost Adventure,” an original animated musical that draws inspiration from Taiwan’s Ghost Month celebrations, Buddhist teachings, Indigenous tribal heritage, and contemporary Asian pop culture. The partnership between Red Empire founder Amie Casey and OMG co-founder Steve Chicorel aims to produce a theatrical animated musical with broad international appeal by combining innovative storytelling techniques with hybrid-AI production methods.
The film’s narrative centers on an international pop star who travels to Taiwan to complete a song left unfinished by her deceased parents. When Ghost Month arrives, she finds herself transported to the realm of the dead and must recover her musical voice and finish the composition before returning to the living world in time for her scheduled concert. The story weaves together modern Mandopop music with ancient mythology, comedic elements, and supernatural themes against Taiwan’s picturesque backdrop.
Renowned animator Greg Manwaring, whose career includes work on “The Lion King,” “Pocahontas,” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,” has joined the creative team. Chicorel, a UCLA-trained screenwriter and musician, drew from nearly two decades of living in Taiwan to develop the project’s story, treatments, and original music. The team has already crafted feature treatments for two potential films and created a preliminary soundtrack. OMG and Red Empire are currently in talks with a major studio’s animation division about advancing the franchise.
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Originally reported by Variety →
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