Malaysia's "BoBoiBoy" series goes to China and India markets
Local animation company, Monsta, has secured a deal to bring over its hit animation 3D series "BoBoiBoy" to both China and India.
With the support from MDEC and WebTVAsia, the local company has sealed an exclusive acquisition deal with China's Tencent Video, the dominant video streaming platform with over 457 million monthly active users, to bring "BoBoiBoy" into the China market.
Nizam Razak, CEO of Monsta said, "It has always been our dream to export not only our content but also our Malaysian culture to the world. Now this dream is a reality as millions of viewers from across the world are enjoying our animated shows with our Malaysian identity."
The acquisition deal is worth seven figures in renminbi (RMB), and WebTVAsia will act as the distribution and localisation partner for the animation series.
All three seasons of the "BoBoiBoy" TV series as well as its feature film "BoBoiBoy The Movie" will be fully dubbed into the mainland Mandarin language.
"It is a major breakthrough for a top Malaysian animation IP to enter China, one of the world's biggest markets with a highly popular video platform like Tencent. As a Malaysian company ourselves, we are proud to bridge this connection and look forward to a successful partnership in years to come," said Fred Chong, Group CEO of WebTVAsia.
Meanwhile, Monsta has also announced its acquisition deal with Disney Channel India to broadcast the series and movie to the whole Indian sub-continent, which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka.
In the region, "BoBoiBoy" will be shown in four languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and English.
Apart from international partnerships, Monsta has also acquired a merchandising deal with Japan's Takara Tomy to produce the BoBoiBoy Galaxy TOMICA toy series which was released to the Malaysian market this year, and has also partnered with Gameloft to produce BoBoiBoy Galaxy Run, a mobile game on both Android and iOS.
"BoBoiBoy" is a series about a boy and his friends who gained super powers from an alien robot and they must now use it to defend earth from alien threats who aim to conquer the Earth in the hunt for cocoa beans.
Next year will mark Monsta's ten years anniversary, and the company has announced that the second "BoBoiBoy" movie will be released in 2019, featuring two new superheroes.
With the release of "BoBoiBoy" in China and India, Monsta hopes that the brand will become more popular with kids internationally and open up new opportunities for the Malaysian animation industry.
