Singapore’s Robotic Playground Media is cooking up one thing darkish and scrumptious with “A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts,” an animated horror anthology that pairs Chinese language delicacies with supernatural terror. The undertaking, chosen for Taiwan Inventive Content material Fest (TCCF), adapts Chinese language-American creator Ying Chang Compestine’s bestselling 2016 YA guide right into a feature-length assortment of 4 interconnected tales.
Set in a haunted restaurant outdoors time, the movie follows a ghostly host serving 4 unforgettable horror tales, every centered round a legendary Chinese language dish. From a murdered stepdaughter’s spectral revenge with egg fried rice to a cursed fishing village sure by blood and tang yuan throughout winter solstice, the anthology weaves a darkish tapestry of generational sin and ancestral reckoning.
“The guide caught my consideration first – its idea of quick ghost tales centred round Chinese language meals was so uncommon and cinematic,” says Ervin Han, producer-director and co-founder of Robotic Playground Media. “I instantly noticed its potential for animation: the visible richness, the sensory element, the mix of tradition and horror.”
Han emphasizes the undertaking’s common enchantment regardless of its culturally particular roots. “Chinese language delicacies is globally acknowledged, and the tales replicate that very same diaspora affect – acquainted but deeply rooted in custom,” he explains. “Pairing that universality with the horror style felt like a potent mixture, one thing that might journey extensively whereas staying authentically Asian.”
The manufacturing represents a big cross-border collaboration, bringing collectively animation studios from Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Eire and India. Robotic Playground Media is producing alongside Lumine Studio in Jakarta, Xanthus Animation in Taiwan, companions in Eire, and Toonz Media Group in India, with government producer Justin Deimen’s Goldfinch Asia backing the undertaking.
Manufacturing is effectively underway, with the primary episode “Egg Fried Rice” already 80% full. The remaining three episodes – “Sizzling Pot,” “Beef Noodles,” and “Tang Yuan” – are slated to enter manufacturing via 2025, with the complete function focused for completion in late 2026.
As artistic producer, Han is giving every director artistic freedom inside a transparent mandate. “Hold it visually wealthy, emotionally resonant and don’t be afraid to have enjoyable with it,” he says. “Animation permits for such vary in tone and expression, and horror, particularly, is a style with infinite shades to play with – from the poetic to the grotesque, the darkly humorous to the deeply tragic.”
Meals preparation takes middle stage within the visible storytelling. “We additionally make the meals – and the preparation of every dish – central. It needs to be visually enthralling, as a result of meals is our soul; it’s how we dwell, how we join, and on this case, how we keep in mind the lifeless,” Han notes.
The anthology’s first quantity explores themes of ancestral sin, household, piety and consequence. “They’re morality tales in their very own twisted approach,” Han mentioned. “Throughout the 4 movies, we need to take audiences via a spectrum of feelings – worry, surprise, melancholy, even darkish laughter – and, hopefully, go away them hungry for the subsequent course.”
Han sees TCCF as a chance to raise Asian artistic voices on the worldwide stage. “My hope is to develop one thing that feels deeply rooted in Asia but speaks naturally to audiences all over the place,” he says. “Chinese language meals and its rituals are immediately recognizable around the globe, and when paired with style horror and the visible freedom of animation, it turns into one thing each acquainted and contemporary.”
The undertaking brings collectively veteran trade abilities. Author Lee Thean-jeen is a Singaporean director and screenwriter greatest recognized for Mediacorp’s Channel 5 drama sequence together with “AlterAsians,” “The Singapore Quick Story Undertaking,” and “Code of Legislation.” Government producer Justin Deimen is managing director of Goldfinch Asia and a founding member of the Southeast Asian Audio-Visible Affiliation.
Further producers embrace David Gulshan, VP of function movie worldwide gross sales at India’s Toonz Media Group; Allen Jordan, founding father of Indonesia’s Goshen Group; and Bruce Yao, CEO of Taiwan’s Xanthus Animation.
Based in 2013, Robotic Playground Media has constructed an award-winning monitor document producing unique animation, VFX and movement graphics for Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Netflix and MTV. Han, who has over 20 years in animation, is a a number of Asian Academy Inventive Award nationwide winner and Asian Tv Award winner. He beforehand created the three-season grownup animated comedy “Downstairs,” which streamed on Netflix and Mediacorp.
Competition and market rollout is anticipated to comply with the late 2026 completion, positioning “A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts” as a showcase for Southeast Asian animation’s rising worldwide ambitions.
