Malaysian Contingent Rakes In $70 Million Worth of Deals

CANNES: During MIPCOM, 16 deals worth more than $70 million were announced by the official contingent of Malaysia, which doubled in size from last year’s 30 companies to 75 at this year’s market.

Dato’ Sri Kamaruddin Siaraf, Secretary General of the Malaysian Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture joined the Malaysian delegation at MIPCOM this year. Dato’ Sri Kamaruddin Siaraf said, “I am proud that Malaysia has achieved a major break-through this year in MIPCOM, managing to double the growth of Malaysian sellers and available IPs. Making an announcement of 16 major deals worth more than USD 70 million in the world’s most prestigious market—MIPCOM is truly a testament of the healthy growth of the Malaysian entertainment and media industry.”

Among the deals secured by companies from Malaysia was Animasia Studio signing a production servicing contract with Strika Entertainment to continue the third season of the soccer series Supa Strikas. Animasia and ZN Animation of China aligned to co-produce the animation series My Ugly Little Brother. Backbone Entertainment, Neonpumkin of Korea and Millimages of the U.K. are to co-produce a 3D animated TV series, Call for ChiChi.

In other news of co-productions, Cartoon4Kids and Baleuko of Spain are co-producing the 3D animated series Smolitoon. Double Vision and FFP New Media of Germany entered a deal to co-produce the TV-movie Re-United in Malaysia. This is the second co-production TV movie for the two, after the a success of Rendez-vous in Malaysia.

Escalade and Latin Media Corporation of the U.S. have come together for the telenovela drama series Only You…Sofea Hana. Funcel and August Media of Singapore are to co-finance and co-produce a slate of three animated series of 52 episodes each. Funcel will be the animation production partner for the slate of series, while August Media along with its Scottish subsidiary, Red Kite Animation, will be responsible for development, finance, executive production and distribution. The titles of the three series are expected to be announced before the end of the year.

Infinite Motion and DuArt Film And Video of the U.S. have pacted for an as-yet-untitled animation series, inclusive of script writing and dubbing. Infinite Motion also scored a deal with Three Black Cat of the U.K. to co-produce Ella Brella. Lemon Sky Animation, Lion Rock The show is distributed by Beyond Distribution.

Cedars Art Production of Lebanon signed a non-exclusive deal with the Payang Group to distribute an Islamic animation series, Animal Stories from Qur’an, for the Southeast Asia territory. Sirius Pictures and Heart Command Films of India are to co-produce a slate of feature films and documentaries for television and new-media platforms.

Tulus Fikir and Korea’s Synergy Media of Korea and Crazy Bird Studio are coming together for Playground Robot Bboing, which recently recieved the Best Planning Award of the 2011 Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival. Sesame Workshop of the U.S. appointed Vision Plus Entertainment to distribute and co-produce localized contents for program catalogue of Sesame Street content in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, comprised of Play with Me Sesame, Elmo’s World, Abby’s Flying Fairy School and Jalan Sesama.

Ed-Online Technologies and Bryant Whittle of the U.K. jointly announced the completion of their ten-book educational children series, based on their animation TV series Red, Yellow and Blue, which is currently in development between Ed-Online Technologies, Bryant Whittle and Scrawl Studios of Singapore. Co-production partners Vision Animation and Moody Street Kids of Australia announced the global product launch of their co-produced animation series Flea Bitten, which is distributed globally by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF).