DQE looks to earn Rs 47cr from Little Prince

Hyderabad-based animation, gaming and entertainment company DQ Entertainment International will see a direct co-production service cash revenue of about 7.13 million euro (approximately Rs 47 crore) for delivering specialised computer-generated imagery (CGI) work to the 3D animated television series ‘Little Prince’. DQ is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the AIM-listed DQ Entertainment Plc.

“We have recently entered into an agreement with French firms LPPTV and Method Animation SA for co-producing a TV series on Little Prince (Le Petit Prince in French). The series, with a global budget of 18 million euro (Rs 117 crore), will be telecast on French television France 3,” Tapaas Chakravarti, chairman and chief executive of DQE, told Business Standard.

Besides, DQE will own additional global backend rights (including broadcasting, merchandising and home video distribution) rights to Little Prince, which has estimated substantial global sales over the following five to seven years along with the other European co-producers, he added.

First published in 1943, Little Prince is based on French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s books. Since then, they were translated into nearly 200 languages selling more than 130 million copies worldwide.

Little Prince has spawned plays and animated pictures including a 1974 Paramount Pictures production and a Nickelodeon US cartoon series aired in 1980s. Little Prince is often used as a beginner’s book for French language students.

“Little Prince will be a 104-episode series with 11 minutes duration each. We plan to deliver 50 per cent of the project by the middle of next year and the rest by 2011,” Tapaas said.

He said the company had signed a French co-production deal with Paris-based entertainment group Moonscoop to close the 9.2 million euro (about Rs 59.8 crore) production budget for its 3D animation TV series ‘The Jungle Book’, adapted from the original writings of Rudyard Kipling.

The other major co-production partners already on board for ‘The Jungle Book’ are Germany-based ZDF Enterprises and ZDF Broadcasting, besides broadcasting and licensing firm TF1 Group from France. MoonScoop will now cooperate with TF1 and other French funding agencies to perform some important parts of the work on the series.

“DQE will subsequently also create a TV special of 60 minutes based on the TV series along with the first season of 52X11 minutes to be delivered by 2010. London-based NBC Universal has been roped in for distribution of home video in territories such as UK, France, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, while it is in advance negotiations for other territories,” Tapaas said.