The Hindu Business Line : Animation group Toonz scripts film, media forays

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug. 9 After building its brand in the animation and animation education businesses, the Toonz Group is now evolving into a global film and media company.

The group is venturing into businesses such as film production, Internet-based entertainment, computer game development and merchandising and licensing, said Mr P. Jayakumar, Group CEO, Toonz Group.

A new company, Toonz Entertainment, has been set up in Singapore and will be the holding company for all media-related ventures of the Toonz Group, he told Business Line.

With this, the original company, Toonz Animation India Pvt Ltd has become a subsidiary of Toonz Entertainment.

Film fund

Live Action Company, another subsidiary of Toonz Entertainment, is in the process of wrapping up a $200-million film fund, which will be used to make Hollywood and Asian films, he said.

Toonz Entertainment’s Internet ventures will be through Toonz Digital, which will operate from London, he said. This company will operate in three businesses — electronic sports or e-sports, video-on-demand and a comics portal.

e-sports

In e-sports, a term used to describe video and computer games played as a competitive sport, the company is looking at a major acquisition in Europe. Toonz Digital is also putting together a video-on-demand channel, besides setting up a portal that will showcase comics, he explained.

The portal will also allow users to upload their work, he added.

The Thiruvananthapuram-based Toonz Animation has moved up the value chain and is now co-producing a number of animated films, including feature films.

Last year, the company signed a three-film deal with Paramount Home Entertainment to co-produce animated feature films. Dragonlance, the first of the three films has been completed and will be released in November, Mr Jayakumar said .

Work on the script of Mostly Ghostly based on the work of R.L. Stine, the second film covered by this agreement, has started, he added. Toonz Animation is also working on several other projects including co-productions with BBC and G7 Animation.

Toonz Licensing, also a subsidiary of Toonz Entertainment, has acquired India merchandising and licensing rights to all characters of Marvel Comics including Spiderman.

Licensing rights

Now, the company has India merchandising and licensing rights to Manchester United and South Asia rights to Mr Bean, he pointed out. The company is in the process of acquiring rights to several other ‘properties’, he added.

Toonz is entering the gaming business through Toonz Gaming. However, its entry into this segment is running slightly behind schedule.

The company is looking at some acquisitions in the gaming space in the UK and will then be set to start operations, he said.

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