DQE gets Rs 465 mn service contract for Little Prince

DQE gets Rs 465 mn service contract for Little Prince

MUMBAI: Hyderabad-based DQ Entertainment, which inked a co-production agreement with Europe-based Method Animations for television series The Little Prince, will receive €7.13 million ( Rs 464.7 million) for delivering specialised CGI work. Part of this work may take place in Europe based on the pipeline necessities.

The 3D animation series, inspired from the books written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, will be built on a global budget of approximately €18 million (Rs 1.31 billion) and will take 65 weeks to get executed completely. Says Method Animation Group CEO Aton Soumache, "We are confident that the synergies from our joint efforts will continue to produce such global brands that will entertain children across all boundaries and help us to keep up with healthy growth."

DQE will own additional global backend rights to The Little Prince, which, the company claims, has estimated substantial global sales over the following five to seven years along with the other European co-producers and is investing in co-production.

Says DQE Group chairman & CEO Tapaas Chakravarti, "We are producing successful brands which have a track record globally including sales of millions of copies of books and successful licensing. In continuation to this strategy is our deal on ‘The Little Prince‘ as a co-production by DQ Entertainment group with Method Animation."

On the broadcasting front, while France 3, LLPTV (France), WDR (Germany) and Rai (Italy) have been signed in as broadcast partners for The Little Prince, Sony BMG will hold the home video rights.