Les Copaque's Geng to release in Indonesia & India

KAULA LUMPUR: Les Copaque’s Geng the first Malaysian 3D movie is now stepping in to the international markets. Geng, which released in Malayasia in Feb 2009 and had a phenomenal box office collection of RM 6.314 million in the local market, will be released in Indonesia by Blitz Megaplex on 9th Sept ’09 and in India by IndiaTales in November ‘09.

Geng will have a pan India release with around 480 prints (including digital), while in Indonesia it will be released across five screens of Blitz Megaplex. The movie will be dubbed in Hindi for the Indian release, while it will be released in Indonesia in Bahasa Malaysia with English subtitles.

Talking to Animation Xpress Asia Pacific, Mohd Safwan Art Director Les Copaque said, “Geng has a promising market in Indonesia, as there is an already established fan base for Upin and Ipin (The lead character of Geng) in the country. The characters were introduced here in 2008 via a 3D animated series which was broadcasted on TPI Indonesia. But since the release is limited to five screens, we cannot expect high revenue from the ticket sales. However we look at it as a future opportunity to build relationships with Indonesian cinema exhibitors and to win hearts of the people with our characters so that our next film can be hopefully launched in Indonesia and Malaysia simultaneously.”

Excited about the India release Safwan added, “As India is a very big market, we believe with proper advertising and promotion both LCP and IndiaTales could gain a lot especially from the mobile content rights. Since the film Geng features an Indian boy as the main character, we are looking forward to know the response of Indian audiences towards it.”

IndiaTales holds Theatrical, Satellite, Pay TV, Home Video, Mobile content and music rights for the movie in the India and Indian sub continent regions. IndiaTales would be conducting Geng Voice Hunt to find right voices for the main characters of the movie for its Hindi dubbing. This show will be promoted by IndiaTales’ Radio partner and TV partner. It would be promoted in 2000 schools across the nation wherein school kids can participate in the contest.

Shalendra Vashistha,Commercial Director,IndiaTales said, “This movie has been a blockbuster in Malaysia and will be the same in India because it has a compelling story line full of adveisnture, fun and suspense. The characters Ipin, Upin and Raju are really fabulous and connect to any naughty kid. This movie is for all ages as it carries a message of nature conservation.”

IndiaTales is yet to finalize the exhibitors for the movie. “We are open to look at options and evaluating few in hand. We would like to make sure that right level of hype is created with promotion and advertising before exhibition of the movie. At IndiaTales we plan to distribute 12 movies in a year and the first two will be The Life of Buddha and Geng for 2009. We have around 10 more in pipeline,” added Shalendra.