Weta FX Signs AI Hub Deal With Taiwan as Character IP Dominates TCCF

Weta FX, the New Zealand visual effects house behind "The Lord of the Rings" and "Avatar," signed a memorandum of understanding with the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) on Nov. 6 to make Taiwan an AI hub for Asia's content industries. The deal, signed on opening day of the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) in Taipei, pairs Weta FX with Taiwanese animation and VFX outfit Moonshine Studio and commits the company to a technology platform backing Taiwanese film and TV projects, plus exchanges and internships for young Taiwanese filmmakers.

The market itself has shifted. Animation and character IP companies formed the largest exhibitor group at TCCF 2026 — 29 of 107 exhibitors, up from 19 in 2025, according to post-event figures from organizer TAICCA. Of this year's exhibitors, 69 were Taiwanese and 38 came from overseas; the total stood at 117 last year. Film and TV production and distribution dropped from 22 exhibitors to 16, digital tech, VFX and immersive media from 15 to eight, and publishing, comics and webtoons from 12 to five. Television and media networks rose from 20 to 22, and new media, streaming and entertainment companies from six to eight. The Pitching program presented 93 projects to industry participants from 28 countries; TAICCA is still compiling buyer attendance and deal values.

Why did Hollywood's VFX giants come to Taipei?

The mechanism is client pressure. Weta FX CEO Daniel Seah said studio legal departments had ruled out any use of generative AI on their projects early last year. By the turn of the year, clients were asking about Weta's AI strategy — mostly to find out how much money the technology could save.

"It's, 'If you don't have an AI strategy, don't bother to work with us,'" Seah said of the period since the third quarter of this year.

Seah said AI had become a national strategy in Taiwan on the back of the island's semiconductor industry, and that Moonshine had been moving quickly as a result. Japanese studios brought their own AI work to Taipei. Toei, the studio behind "Kamen Rider" and the Super Sentai series that became "Power Rangers," has adopted rules for generative AI and already uses it for backgrounds, president Yoshimura Fumio said. "I believe AI is not something that takes away jobs, but a tool that expands the possibilities of expression and business," he said.

At a TCCF panel on AI in animation, OLM Digital board director Yotsukura Tatsuo presented a coloring tool, developed under a Japanese government-backed research project, that learns a show's look from three hand-painted frames. On the same panel, Charles Beirnaert, chief creative officer of French studio Blue Spirit, said the "Blue Eye Samurai" studio is barred from using AI on its Netflix work. Taiwanese technology company imCore Corp. launched Core Studio, an AI filmmaking platform with more than 24 specialized agents, at TCCF on Nov. 7.

Who is buying Taiwanese content now?

Vietnam, increasingly. "From a television broadcaster's perspective, we've seen a significant increase in Vietnamese buyers this year," said Grace Chan, a program planner in acquisitions and sales at Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV). "Last year, Korean buyers and potential partners made up the largest group."

Southeast Asia ran through the program. K7 Media's Trang Nguyen presented a study of Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest film market with box office revenue of $352.9 million in 2025, and pointed to horror as a natural meeting ground for Taiwanese and Indonesian producers. Thai director Thiti Srinuan explained how music video revenue bankrolled much of Taibaan Studio's film universe before "The Undertaker" grossed more than THB700 million ($20.8 million) in Thailand. The top Pitching prize, the $35,000 TAICCA × CNC Feature Film Grand Award, went to "Somewhere in the South," a Malaysian feature written and directed by Tan Ce Ding and produced by Anthony Chen, the Singaporean director of "Ilo Ilo."

Japan leaned in from the other side. Cinematographer Wayne Lo, at TCCF for the first time, met several Japanese teams and found that up-and-coming Japanese filmmakers see the market and working directly with TAICCA as routes to getting projects made. "At the pitching sessions, I also sensed growing interest in Taiwanese content in Japan," Lo said — though he noted that "Japan still offers a wider range of film genres than Taiwan." Toei's Yoshimura said Japanese films were the most-released titles in Taiwan in 2025 and second only to U.S. films at the box office, and he wants long-term tokusatsu (live-action effects-driven) partnerships and international co-productions with Taiwan.

How are characters becoming the business model?

Toei is launching a games label whose first three titles are originals rather than adaptations of existing IP. "We aim to bring game creators' talent on board over the long term as a new vein of IP creation, and make games the starting point for stories in place of novels and comics," Yoshimura said. Sawamura Naomichi, founder of Japanese microdrama app Bump, said his company is considering adapting its microdramas into manga or animation.

Books and comics still drew interest through Pitching despite fewer exhibitors. Mirror Fiction's "The Three Witches of Shetou" won both the TAICCA Award: Best Story and the friDay Video Original Story Award. Producer Chang Chen-yu of World Softest Production Film Co. said Taiwanese comic artist Gao Yan's "The Song About Green" drew considerable attention after its presentation, with meeting requests up on last year. "Companies from Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and even Europe have expressed interest in collaborating," Chang said. "This year, I've felt more strongly that creative talent and resources are concentrated in Asia, but the distinctiveness and audience appeal of the material remain key."

TAICCA's own audience research backs the push: among viewers of Taiwanese film and TV, 40% had also watched Taiwanese screen adaptations, and the study flagged romance as a promising genre for cross-platform development, with links to comics, popular music and mobile games.

What does the money look like?

TAICCA presented the slates of its four joint-venture funds, which have backed 27 projects and drawn NT$4.9 billion in private capital alongside NT$740 million from the agency — about $180 million in all. Two of the ventures are partnerships with Taiwanese telecoms. The Chunghwa Digital Cultural and Creative Fund, majority owned by Chunghwa Telecom, totals NT$1 billion ($32 million). Enjoy Entertainment, TAICCA's partnership with Far EasTone, invested in 15 projects in its first 10 months, and its slate includes a Taiwanese remake of Korean series "Our Blues," launching globally on Netflix on Dec. 3. The momomini Kids Content Fund focuses on children's content, which COO Phoebe Tsai said had not previously been treated as a distinct investment category in Taiwan.

One Enjoy investment ties the week together. "The Rope Curse 4: Kuntilanak," a Taiwan-Indonesia horror collaboration that Toei also invested in, took NT$80 million ($2.6 million) at the Taiwanese box office — a franchise record, and a template for the cross-border, character-driven deals TCCF is now built to produce.