Nothing Begets Success Like Success

After hitting a collection of five million ringgit with Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula movie and possibly on the way to the number 1 Malaysian film box-office status of all time despite facing cuts in screen time, I am glad to read in the newspaper and their blog that Les Copaque has secured financing for their planned second movie, Upin & Ipin - The Movie. Yes folks, the characters who originally started life as supporting characters in the Geng movie before being spinned off to far greater success as cartoon shorts headliners that became the premier draw for Les Copaque finally get their own movie. This is despite the common perception that Geng WAS the Upin & Movie despite several clarifications by the producers.

Les Copaque's Mohd Nizam Abdul Razak stated in Berita Minggu last week that they have begun planning for the movie with shooting to start in 2010, with discussions on the storyline and the film script started. In addition to the movie while waiting for it to hit the big screen, Upin & Ipin fans can feast their eyes on 42 new episodes for free television series whose commencement will be officially announced soon. Whether these would be full 30 minutes episodes or still short snippets is anyone's guess at the moment. What storyline these new series or even the movie itself would take is still open to conjecture, as the last six episodes of Upin&Ipin has taken a more scientific tone rather than religious instruction of the first two seasons appropriate for their screening during the fasting month, being repackaged into a new Upin &Ipin and friends series. We would all just have to wait and see eh when the series and movie comes out. Just be grateful that the successes of Upin & Ipin and Geng the movies has firmly placed this production house on solid ground to take local animation to higher heights, and hopefully fire up the other local production houses to follow suit. We have many successful local cartoons on tv already, let more of them jump onto the big screen. I too want to see other production houses like Lensa Film's Kacang on the big screen. Upin & Ipin has shown the way.

Post Script : Announcement in Malay about Upin & Ipin The Movie appearing in Berita Harian Dated 18 March 2008

Upin & Ipin The Movie bakal menyusul

SEMENTARA itu, Mohd Anas berkata, populariti watak dua adik-beradik kembar yang comel, Upin dan Ipin dipergunakan sebaik-baiknya apabila diangkat ke layar perak secara khusus menggunakan judul Upin & Ipin...The Movie.

Katanya, keputusan itu dibuat kerana menerima pandangan daripada orang ramai yang tertarik dengan karakter dua budak kembar itu. Malahan dengan garapan yang lebih kemas, pihaknya yakin filem animasi kedua mereka menjadi karya menarik dan cantik. Ketika ini, proses awal persiapan untuk pembikinan Upin & Ipin The Movie sedang giat dilakukan. Ia dijangka mengambil masa setahun untuk disiapkan dan mereka berharap dapat ditayangkan kepada orang ramai pada penghujung tahun 2010.

“Kita mengambil kira pandangan orang ramai termasuk media yang membuat ulasan daripada filem Geng. Ramai yang menyatakan watak Upin dan Ipin dalam filem Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula... terlalu sedikit membuatkan penonton tidak puas menyaksikan telatah mereka. “Buat masa ini kita juga masih dalam peringkat perancangan awal untuk menghasilkan jalan cerita yang lebih menumpukan kepada watak Upin dan Ipin bersama rakannya di sekolah tadika. “Kita juga meramalkan filem animasi kedua ini lebih cepat daripada filem pertama lalu disebabkan segala kelengkapan bagi menghasilkan animasi dan beberapa karakter sudah ada. Cuma kita harus menghasilkan beberapa karakter lagi untuk menguatkan jalan ceritanya,” kata Mohd Anas ketika dihubungi Hip, baru-baru ini. Beliau berkata, pihaknya menjangkakan filem itu yang akan disiapkan dalam tempoh 12 bulan berbanding hampir 48 bulan untuk menyiapkan filem Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula. Selain itu, dengan kelengkapan yang sudah ada, kos penerbitannya juga dianggarkan lebih rendah.

Sambutan yang hangat bagi filem Geng; Pengembaraan Bermula ini berikutan dua watak kembar Upin & Ipin menambat hati penonton yang pernah disiarkan menerusi di TV9 sepanjang Ramadan pada tahun 2007 dan 2008. Bagi menguatkan lagi strategi pemasaran filem Geng, Les' Copaque kini sudah memulakan siri Upin & Ipin musim ketiga yang sedang ditayangkan sejak Februari lalu.