The Korean film industry body has increased its support budget and announced a conversion deal between Stereopictures and Warner Bros.

The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) is boosting its budget with 3D initiatives to $3.4m (KRW3.9bn) for this year. It is up from $725,300 (KRW850m) last year.

At the same time, the government body announced a 3D converting deal between Stereopictures Korea and Warner Brothers for Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore.

Sung Young Seok, president of Stereopictures Korea, said that the company won a series of test bids for 3D conversion last year. Sung said: “Cats & Dogs 2 will be our first project for the Hollywood major studios, and we’re looking at doing six to eight more this year.”

With a slew of project requests lined up, Stereopictures has signed an memorandum of understanding (MOU) with KOFIC on developing technology and training experts in 3D.

“We have enough staff to work on Cats & Dogs 2 without any problem, but we plan to do up to 70 projects within three years. We want to ensure the level of quality, otherwise there’s no point,” said Sung.

Using the facilities at the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA), KOFIC plans to turn out a total of 7,000 trained professionals within the next four years, starting with 750 this year.

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