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Green Gold Animation, a Hyderabad-based animated content developer, is in the process of producing a new movie based on India’s first animated television serial character – Chhota Bheem – with a budget of Rs 8 crore, according to founder and managing director Rajiv Chilaka.
“Pre-production work is on for the new 3D movie titled ‘Chhota Bheem Kung-Fu Dhamaka’. The 100-minute movie is aimed at audience in the age group of between six and 18 years, and will have its theatrical release in summer 2015,” he told Business Standard.
The story of Chhota Bheem Kung-Fu Dhamaka is set in China, where Chhota Bheem and his team participate in a Kung-Fu competition and emerge winners.
The Chhota Bheem animated TV series was launched six years ago on Turner International’s Pogo channel. Chhota Bheem, who turned nine this year, had his first big screen presence with ‘Chhota Bheem and the Curse of Damyaan’ in May 2012, which garnered Rs 5 crore boxoffice collections, while his second feature film ‘Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali’, released in 2013, grossed Rs 4.5 crore.
Stating that the company was planning to produce one animated feature film for India every year funded through internal cash reserves, Chilaka said the company was gearing up to release its third theatrical movie titled ‘Mighty Raju Rio Calling’ in the second half of May 2014.
“The 96-minute 2D movie, made with a production budget of Rs 4 crore, is aimed at the two to nine years age group, and will be released across 300 multiplex screens in India, followed by releases in West Asia, the UK, the US and Southeast Asia in a phased manner,” he said.
The company is expecting Rs 1-crore sales through merchandising of ‘Mighty Raju Rio Calling’ products like T-shirts, toys, footballs, cushions, stationery and comics during the current financial year, he said.
On the television content front, Chilaka said the company had developed ‘Arjun’, a 30-minute-each, 52-episode series based on Arjun, the third of the five Pandavas from the Mahabharata epic. The series will go on air on Disney channel from June, he added.
At present, Green Gold operates 30 exclusive retail stores to sell Chhota Bheem merchandise, besides distributing the merchandise across 12,000 outlets, pan-India.
“Our target is to open an exclusive store every month. Each of the proposed stores will have a carpet area of 350 sft, and we expect to generate revenues of Rs 1,000 per sft a month,” Chilaka said.
