Thomas & Friends: The Great Race, a CG animated movie, propagated by Mattel Creations will arrive on TV, in theaters and on DVD this summer. Mattel Creations released the trailer of this animated film and revealed details of its arrival at MIPTV recently.
The plot of the film follows the slate of 13 talking engine characters along with the famous tank engine ‘Thomas’ representing a dozen countries. Competing at the Great Railway Show, all of these engines strive in their own way to prove their potential. Thomas makes all ends meet to represent his island Sodor at the show thus facing all odds and mockery from the bigger engine counterparts.
The characters include Ashima of India, Racing Vinnie of North America, Axel of Belgium, Raul of Brazil, Etienne of France, Gina of Italy, Frieda of Germany, Yong Bao of China, Ivan of Russia, Carlos of Mexico, Rajiv of India, Shane of Australia and Britain’s ‘The Flying Scotsman’, who is brother to regular franchise character Gordon.
Also, Bollywood face Tina Desai (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) will voice Ashima, the engine representing India.
Produced by HIT Entertainment (a subsidiary of Mattel) and animated by ARC studios, Thomas & Friends: The Great Race still has its release dates under wraps.
As it is Mattel and it is associated with the 2003 television series named Thomas & Friends, we can expect a number of merchandising activities in terms of games, play sets, books and toys from the manufacturing giant to cement the franchise among the young and old.