Hollywood Talents Join Animated Malaysian Feature Film
Skwigly
“Ribbit” – a 3D animation comedy/adventure story about a frog with an identity crisis is ready for delivery to distributors around the world. The film is voiced by popular Hollywood actors Sean Astin from ‘Lord of the Rings’, Tim Curry from ‘TheHunt for Red October’, international comedian Russell Peters and Cherami Leigh from ‘Fast Food Nation’. ‘Ribbit’ is co-produced by KRU International (Malaysia) and Crest Animation Studios Ltd (India), and partly financed by the Malaysian government through the Multimedia Development Corporation, was first introduced at the Marche Du Film, Cannes 2012.
Represented by KRU’s sales and distribution arm “United Studios”, the film has been picked up in over 80 countries including UK, Germany, Australia, Japan, China and Brazil to name a few. Grant Raynham, United’s Head of International Sales & Distribution, confirms “There has been growing interest over the last two years and today more than 18 buyers in North America are interested in acquiring the film.”
Directed and written by Chuck Powers, the animation film ‘Ribbit’ was recorded in Los Angeles. The development and post-production works was entirely completed in Malaysia, while the animation production took place in both Cyberjaya, Malaysia and Mumbai, India. The bulk of the rendering work was done in Hong Kong; making “Ribbit” a truly global project, which is fitting for a story set against the backdrop of the Amazon rainforest.
The key driving force behind the production of ‘Ribbit’ is Norman A. Halim, the Group CEO, Executive Producer and President of the KRU Group of Companies. “We have been in the entertainment business since 1992; however we realize that the best way for us to go global is via animated feature films and television shows. We have gathered the best talents in the region for “Ribbit.” We also learned a lot from Crest’s experience in the production of “Alpha & Omega”, which was released in 2010 by Lionsgate. Currently we have a slate of animated feature films and television shows in the pipeline, some of which will be announced in Marche Du Film this year.”
The Stereoscopic 3D version of “Ribbit” will be premiered at Marche Du Film 2014 and the North American distributor is expected to be announced shortly thereafter.