All you folks from the Indian animation fraternity get ready with your high fives and victory cries, for a big moment to celebrate the achievement and caliber of Indian Animation is just a week away! Lionsgate and Crest Animation‘s Alpha & Omega is all set to release this September 17th across more than 2000+ screens in North America. The release will be the first time ever that a film co-produced and co-owned by an Indian animation brand will be opening to such a wide audience in the International arena.
By the end of September, the film will be released in all the major markets across continents worldwide. The distribution deal for the India release is in the process of being finalized.
Rendered beautifully and stunningly in 3D Stereoscopy, Alpha & Omega is again one of the 1st stereo CGI animated features coming from a studio anywhere in Asia, co-owned by an Asian studio and releasing to such a wide audience base internationally.
Speaking to AnimationXpress.com, Crest Animation CEO AK Madhavan proudly shared,”Crest has always delivered quality and on time. Alpha & Omega is our own property co-produced and co-owned with Lionsgate. Studios in Hollywood that were skeptical about delivery and quality when we signed the 3 movie deal partnering with Lionsgate are now super impressed with the quality and the fact that we are meeting the September 17 release date as planned”
“There are a lot of firsts to this”, he beamed, “It is for the first time that a Hollywood Studio and International distribution major like Lionsgate is funding half of the production money of the film, which has never happened before in the history of any animation studio from Asia. You can liken it to the deal between Pixar and Disney where after Toy Story they had a 5 film deal for equal funding of production. This symbiotic partnership between content creator and distributor has a real deep impact on the success of the product”
It is also for the first time that a large technology fund like DE SHAW has put in monies into the production of an animated film, normally an IDBI, EXIM kind of a bank would give you debt, but the DE SHAW investment into the SPV created for the production for this movie is on an equity basis. The movie has also been bonded by a completion bond company, Film Finance Corporation from Hollywood. Bonding adds huge credibility to the project as the bonding company assures that the film will be delivered on time and in budget and this speaks highly about the credibility factor between Crest LA and Crest in India. Bonding companies are very selective and dont bond every movie”
Hollywood companies are yet again impressed by Crest‘s performance. Does that mean that a lot more strategic partnerships with distributors, similar to the one with Lionsgate are in the offing for Crest? “Absolutely Yes!” replied Madhavan, “Also, since Lionsgate are extremely happy with Alpha & Omega, they have already green lit the 2nd movie, Norm of the North. If you Look at Hollywood partnerships between animation content creators and distribution there‘s Pixar and Disney (Pixar is now owned by Disney), Dreamworks Animation and Paramount had a unique relationship until recently, there‘s Blue Sky which is owned by FOX, there‘s Sony Animation and Sony…but there are several other large, mid sized as well as independent Hollywood distributors that are waiting to see how Alpha & Omega fares. The sentiment is already positive and you will soon hear abour more partnerships that Crest will be getting into”
If in 2010, Alpha & Omega is getting Crest its 1st feature film glory, in 2011 it will be another global release with an Asian partner as well as the release of its maiden Indian animation feature. In 2012 it will be Norm of the North, once again co-produced along with Lionsgate. “From 2012 onwards we plan to release at least one animated feature a year for the global markets. We are getting into that rhythm and cycle and will gradually build our library in the next 4-5 years time” shared Madhavan.
Mehul Hirani, Creative Director, Crest Animation Studios, shared , “We are very satisfied, happy and excited to see the entire film come out so well, conveying a good story and looking so stunning and breath taking on the big screen. There were a lot of creative and technical challenges during the course of making the movie, that we were able to solve, find solutions and still deliver quality within the time frame. Be it the acting performances, the stereoscopy, the fur, the effects, the newer approaches to bg and layout, team Crest has surpassed several benchmarks in terms of production quality with Alpha & Omega. We have got good feedback from the other teams involved and they too felt it exceeded their expectations.”
“As the date of September 17 approaches, the entire team at Crest is gung ho and looks forward to SHOWTIME, when the global audience will watch with fondness , what our partners in LA and we have created with so much of love, passion and obsession.”
Stay tuned –> All week days in the coming week as AnimationXpress.com brings you detailed stories on many of the several technical and creative benchmarks that team Crest surpassed while working on Alpha & Omega!