ANNECY — Copenhagen Bombay, a darling of Europe’s arthouse toon crowd, was out in force at Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival’s market, presenting its vertically integrated model and diversification into transmedia, as well as pitching its new toon project, “Get Santa” from first-time helmer Jacob Ley.
Shingle also unveiled a raft of sales on “Beyond Beyond,” the Euros 2.8 million
($3.73 million) animated feature from “The Great Bear” helmer Esben Toft Jacobsen. Toon has pre-sold to Gaul (Gebeka), CP Digital (Russia), Sweden, Norway and Finland (Noble Entertainment), and Belgium, Holland and Finland (Jekino).
Now in production, the S3D “Beyond Beyond” will be delivered at the end of
the year and is skedded for a theatrical release in Denmark in April 2014. Copenhagen Bombay will handle local distribution.
Head of sales Malene Iversen said the company is in advanced negotiations
to close South Korea and in talks with buyers from the U.S., U.K. and
Germany.
Co-founded by former Zentropa producer Sarita Christensen and helmer Anders Morgenthaler as a boutique producer in 2006, Copenhagen Bombay now regroups five companies, including a Danish and Swedish studio, and a Danish distributions and international sales company.
Its move into international sales and transmedia has allowed the company to
diversify revenue streams beyond its hallmark, tightly budgeted, yet
upscale 2D and 3D productions.
“We’ve thrived by focusing on in-house productions to keep control of
expenses and have all creatives close together, produce original concepts
for third parties and digital products based on our IPs,” said Swedish
producer Petter Lindblad, citing such concepts as “Carsten & Gitte,” a short
format that was turned into an educational computer game; or “Nature Nuts,”
a food packaging concept promoting healthy food to kids that launched in
over 1,000 stores across Denmark.
Linblad also pointed out another source of success for the company has been its ability to “locate the right talent to work with and incorporating them into the company and producing all kinds of different projects together with them, not just doing one offs, but really developing the talent and ourselves together to be able to deliver the good stories that also look good, and are entertaining to the audience.”
Esben Toft Jacobsen, Karla von Bengtson, Jannik Tai Mosholt and Jacob Ley
are among the Copenhagen Bombay talent pool.
Ley’s feature debut, “Get Santa” tells the tale of a little boy, Julius, who lives in an orphanage. He is transported to a magical universe where he needs to pretend to be a missing Santa to help save the Christmas spirit.
Copenhagen Bombay Denmark is producing with the company’s Swedish division; and is handling international sales. The producers are looking to start raising the financing after the summer, and release the pic in December 2014.
