KUALA LUMPUR — Whether or not local animated flick, ‘Upin and Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal’ produced by Les’ Copaque Production will make it to the final five in the ‘Best Animated Feature’ category of the Academy Awards or the Oscars will be announced later today (Jan 13).
The animated film made history when it became the country’s first film for the category, and was among 32 animated motion pictures from hundreds of entries received worldwide.
Costing RM20 million, the film features Malaysia’s favourite twins interacting with characters from traditional Malay folktales, such as ‘Mat Jenin’, ‘Raja Bersiong’, ‘Nakhoda Ragam’ and ‘Si Tanggang’.
It collected RM26 million at the local box-office last year and has been screened in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam while China has also expressed interest to screen it there.
“We are just waiting for the screening dates. Everything is official and the movie will be shown in 10,000 venues in the country. We have allocated RM6 million for promotions in China with an estimated return of RM2 billion. After China, the film will also be shown in Turkey. So far, 200 theatres have agreed to show ‘Upin and Ipin’, ”he said.
On the company’s future plans, Burhanuddin said a theme park ala Disneyland was in the pipeline.
“We are looking at two types, an indoor theme park in Kuala Lumpur involving an investment of RM60 million where the location has been identified, as well as an outdoor theme park which will involve billions of ringgit investments,” he said.
— BERNAMA
