Malaysian Contingent Notches Up MIPCOM Deals

CANNES: The Malaysian delegation at MIPCOM, led by FINAS, has announced a variety of deals, valued at $30 million, including a co-production pact for Animasia Studio’s Supa Strikas and an alliance between Hasbro Studios and Vision Animation for Transformers: Rescue Bots.

Sri Kamaruddin Siaraf, Secretary General of the Ministry of Information, Communications & Culture of Malaysia, commented, "I am very proud to say that over the past few years, the Malaysian government’s significant investments and support in the entertainment and media industry has finally paid off. Malaysia has achieved a major break-through and reached the pinnacle in being globally recognized as a reliable and competitive source of content production, where many experienced and young and talented reputable production partners are eagerly opened for co-production opportunities, especially in 2D and 3D animation. The international deals announced today are certainly a testament to Malaysia’s strength, capable in developing award-winning, world-class properties for international markets at a very competitive cost. Many Malaysian companies, such as Vision Animation, Animasia Studio, Inspidea and Funcel are already engaged in successful international co-productions and we hope to secure even more deals of this kind here at MIPCOM and beyond.”

Among the deals, Animasia Studio and Strika Entertainment in South Africa will co-produce a new season for Supa Strikas. Hasbro Studios is working with Vision Animation and Moody Street Kids for the second season of Transformers: Rescue Bots. Giggle Garage is aligning with Korea’s Crazy Bird Studio and Synergy Media to co-produce the adventure-comedy animation series Boing the Play Ranger. Another Malay-Korea deal was signed between Roar Studios and Nextani Animation Studio for Chamberlain.

The deals announced at MIPCOM yesterday also include MNC Group in Indonesia taking on the rights to distribute Animasia’s Bola Kampung Series and Bola Kampung the Movie in the country. And Mirayi has signed a distribution deal with Multicom Entertainment Group for the distribution of Mask Master outside of Asia.

Mohd Naguib Razak, director general of FINAS, noted, "Malaysia is the perfect partner for international companies keen to co-produce high-quality content for a worldwide market. The country boasts state-of-the-art production facilities, a rich pool of multilingual talent with experience in visual effects and animation and a friendly, English-speaking and Westernized culture. The Malaysian government also offers a wealth of financial support and incentives to Malaysian producers and even foreign partners."