Cosmos-Maya is setting its foothold in Indonesia, joining hands with Jakarta-based Spectrum Film. The Indian animation studio is going to co-produce a new 3D animated comedy series Putra.
The 52 x 11-minute animated series will feature the titular character and his friends as they fight crime and solve mysteries. It will be produced at Cosmos-Maya’s studio in India, and is scheduled to roll out in 2021. The animation studio will manage the global rights of Putra except Indonesia and Sri Lanka, which will be handled by Spectrum. Both the companies are in advanced talks with broadcast partners.
Commenting on this partnership, Cosmos-Maya CEO Anish Mehta stated, “We have been in business with Spectrum Film for many years for distribution of our Indian content in the Indonesian market, and we’re glad to partner with them on this watershed project. The consumption of animated content is on a consistently upward trend – 2020 has seen phenomenal growth in demand in linear TV as well as digital content. We have seen our homegrown Indian IPs performing wonderfully in Indonesia. Putra gives us the opportunity to directly cater to a large, rich, digitally-advancing and diverse market allowing us to make homegrown content tailormade for local consumption in a foreign territory. There is no better time for us to make this move into the Indonesian animated content space, and there is no better partner for this than Spectrum Film.”
The official synopsis of Putra reads: Putra is an action-comedy show based on the adventures of a courageous kid, Putra. He lives in Jakarta in Indonesia with two of his friends Iss and Budi. Together, the three of them can take on any sort of challenge. They always come forward to fight crime and save their city from evil. Putra has a great sense of investigating crimes and planning the fight. Iss’s coding skills help Putra solve complex puzzles, while Budi’s habit of excessive eating invites unnecessary troubles. Yet, due to Putra’s meticulous planning and great teamwork, this trio can defeat any opponent. These kids are fearless, honest and above all, always ready to fight for good. Putra is a truly engaging action, comedy show with lots of adventures and limitless fun.
Indonesia boasts of nearly 70 broadcast stations with a population (4th largest in the world) of 70 million children, which is surely appealing. Hence, it’s quite a significant deal for Cosmos-Maya. Additionally, Indonesia represents a significant share of the licensing and merchandising (L&M) market in the APAC region which holds above 5 per cent of the global industry.
Spectrum Film CEO Rajesh Jagtiani added, “Our relationship with Cosmos-Maya goes way back and we have been witness to their tremendous progress and growth. They are now one of the largest producers of high-quality animation in India and we are proud to be associated with them in this co-production. We are confident that Putra will grow to become a household name and will be popular with the entire family and not just kids. This is just the start and I’m sure the relationship between our two companies will create several different and interesting projects to feed the ever-increasing demand of animated content.”
This announcement comes recently after Cosmos-Maya Revenue and Corporate Strategy SVP Devdatta Potnis Potnis mentioned at CII SummitFX, “There’s a lot of great movements happening for one of the oldest companies in this animation business. There’s an evolution of the dual market concept and we’re exploring new partnerships even on Pay TV and OTTs.”
Despite the paradigm shift in work infrastructure due to COVID-19, 2020 has proved fruitful for Cosmos-Maya till date, as the company has developed, produced and released more than 10 local animated IPs and internationally co-produced shows. In March, POGO and Cartoon Network greenlit Cosmos-Maya comedies Titoo and Lambuji Tinguji (coming this Diwali). Disney India, meanwhile, picked up Guddu, Bapu and Gadget Guru Ganesha from the studio. They also have a few other IPs in pipeline, to be rolled out this year itself. Very recently, Cosmos-Maya captured 60 per cent of Indian animation market with five shows in 2020.
In August, Mehta revealed to AnimationXpress that they have been “receiving prestigious international projects, as well as working on many co-productions from Europe and other places.” The studio is also working with Apolo films for co-production of Dogtanian And The Three Muskehounds, a Spanish animated film based on the classic novel The Three Musketeers, and Putra adds to that list.
With this deal, Cosmos-Maya intends to grow its library of local and international content and further expand its close working relationships with leading broadcasters in Indonesia.
