Why Tom and Jerry’s New Film Is Made for China

Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass takes the cat and mouse to China

Tom and Jerry return to cinemas with Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass, a 3D animated feature that sends the famous rivals into a world inspired by Chinese mythology. The adventure begins with one of their familiar museum melees before opening into something much larger.

The film arrives in Australian and other international markets after opening in China last August. It was co-produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and China Film Group, China’s state-owned film company, and directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Gang. Its international release is scheduled for Friday, September 4.

This is a very different proposition from the largely forgotten 2021 live-action film. More importantly, its Chinese production is not a random experiment: Tom and Jerry have spent decades building an unusually strong audience across Asia.

Tom and Jerry’s long journey beyond America

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera created Tom and Jerry for MGM in 1940, when MGM’s animation department was competing with Disney’s shorts and Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes. The new cat-and-mouse act quickly became a hit.

Between 1940 and 1957, MGM produced 161 animated shorts. These cartoons were made for cinemas rather than television, playing before feature films in the same way that Disney and Looney Tunes shorts did.

That original run ended after MGM cut costs as television began taking audiences away from cinemas. The studio revived the series in 1961, moving production to Soviet-aligned Czechoslovakia to reduce expenses. The credits used Americanised names, concealing the production’s connection to a country allied with America’s chief international rival at the time, Russia.

The 13 shorts directed by Gene Deitch are now commonly known as the “Gene Deitch Era”. Their limited animation made the revival less successful, but the overseas production marked an important step in the characters’ international history. The cartoons were still aimed at American audiences and shown before American films.

As theatrical shorts were adapted for television in the late 1950s and 1960s, three cartoons were often assembled into a half-hour programme. Tom and Jerry joined that television cycle in 1965, helping the duo reach viewers around the world.

Why the duo travelled so well

Tom and Jerry had a major advantage in international markets: their comedy depended far more on action than dialogue. A chase, a trap or a flying frying pan could be understood without dubbing, while fewer jokes were lost in translation.

The pair reached Japanese television in 1965 and the Philippines in 1966. China followed in the 1980s, after the United States normalised relations with China in the 1970s. Across Asia, the show became a regular part of television life.

“Physical comedy works well across all cultures,” Warner Bros. producer Charlene Tan told Cartoon Brew. She described Tom and Jerry as a multi-generational presence in Singapore, watched by children, parents and grandparents alike.

That broad appeal contrasts with more dialogue-heavy cartoon comedy. Tom hitting Jerry, or Jerry outsmarting Tom, needs no translation, making the formula particularly portable across Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Indian audiences.

China becomes a natural home for new productions

From the 1970s onwards, new Tom and Jerry material was produced specifically for television, alongside repackaged theatrical shorts. The characters have also appeared in two theatrical films, streaming projects and television specials, with mixed results.

Asian audiences remained especially receptive, giving Warner Bros. a clear reason to develop projects directly for those markets. The studio acquired Tom and Jerry in 2006 through a corporate merger.

Recent examples include the Japanese series Tom and Jerry Gokko, which premiered on November 11, 2022, and Singapore’s locally produced shorts, released in 2023 under the title Tom and Jerry Singapore.

Forbidden Compass represents a bigger commitment than those short-form projects. It is a feature-length Chinese adventure built around local mythology, rather than simply another collection of classic-style chases.

A risky experiment, but not a threat to the brand

The film’s reviews have so far been weak, and its Chinese theatrical run was unspectacular after its August release. That may limit its impact as a film, but one underwhelming feature is unlikely to undo decades of affection for the characters.

For Australian viewers, the film is an unusual reminder that a cartoon created for American cinemas has become a genuinely global property. Tom and Jerry’s future may not always be built around the market where they began—and their universal physical comedy gives them plenty of room to keep travelling.

If this cross-cultural approach has you thinking about arcade design and character-led entertainment, explore RETROCADE’s arcade news and gaming features, browse the range of arcade machines, or compare options in the arcade machine buying guide.