Film, Animation and Gaming

This report focuses on the film industry as well as the animation and gaming sectors. The most recent figures available indicate that the film industry contributed R3.5bn to the South African economy in 2012 and grew 14% per annum between 2007 and 2012. Showing phenomenal growth is the gaming industry, which generated revenue of approximately R53m in 2014, an increase of 82% from 2013.

Positive Developments

Government has identified the film industry as a vehicle to create employment and as a result, has implemented funding to support domestic and emerging filmmakers, and tax incentives to attract international filmmakers. High quality infrastructure and highly skilled crew and support staff have resulted in growing demand from international producers for the use of South Africa’s filmmaking facilities. Competition among television content producers for commissions from broadcasters is also expected to increase when DTT migration happens by 2017. The local animation industry received a boost after the international success of Triggerfish’s first feature film Adventures in Zambezi, and the gaming sector continues to grow as mobile and device adoption increases.

Report Coverage

The report on the South African Filmmaking, Animation and Gaming sector describes the current conditions, the challenges facing local filmmakers and animators in the competitive global market and factors influencing the success of the industry. The report also profiles 70 South African companies, including film equipment suppliers such as Gearhouse South Africa (Pty) Ltd, film and TV production companies ranging from the well-known Urban Brew Studios (Pty) Ltd to DO Productions (Pty) Ltd which employs four people. Companies involved in the animation and gaming sub-sectors such as SMMEs, Strika Entertainment (Pty) Ltd and Screwy Lightbulb (Pty) Ltd are also profiled.