Korea/Malay/Italian Co-Pro in the Works

SEOUL: Korean’s ToonZip Animation, Malaysia’s Centraline Animation and Connectoon from Italy are collaborating on the new kids’ series Robot ARPO, which is set to be released in 2011.

Written by U.S. screenwriter Jeffrey Scott, the 52×11-minute 3D animation is expected to have a strong consumer-products rollout in a range of categories ahead of its television launch next year. "Our intention is to make the ARPO character popular and recognizable before broadcast, and we were fortunate to have garnered overwhelming support from various interested parties who have the same confidence in the project as we do," said Nam Kyu Kang, CEO on ToonZip. "We are deeply thankful to these partners, as they have provided us with the opportunities and the platforms which have made the success of Robot ARPO as a new popular brand today possible."

Commenting on the co-pro, Kamil Othman, VP of Malaysia’s Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), noted, “This is a good example of international collaboration, where the strengths of different parties are brought together to coalesce into something greater than the sum of its parts. The joining of forces between ToonZip’s production capabilities and Centraline’s experience in animation management has a resulted in a co-production that has resulted in a high value brand icon…. As a key driver of Malaysia’s creative content sector, we are extremely proud of the progress made by a project co-produced by Malaysians, and also of the implication it could hold for future cross-border co-operation for the animation industry. This model could be emulated by other local companies and the impact on the industry as a whole will be meaningful."