Animation and visual effects company DQ Entertainment has tied up with American Greetings as part of its plans to enter the comics publishing space.
The company will publish comics; invest Rs 200 cr
KOLKATA: Animation and visual effects company DQ Entertainment has tied up with American Greetings as part of its plans to enter the comics publishing space. DQ Entertainment International, the company’s Indian subsidiary, will spearhead this initiative. The company will also invest Rs 200 crore over the next one-and-half years in India.
The $2.5-billion American Greetings is the world’s largest publicly-owned creator, manufacturer and distributor of social expression products.
Tapas Chakravarti, chairman and chief executive officer, DQ Entertainment, said the company’s thrust would be on animation, but it was also seeking a presence in publishing, live action and gaming segments.
DQ’s itinerary in India includes buying stakes in film productions. It is eyeing a stake in a major Bollywood live-action and computer graphics imaging (CGI) film. DQ has already bought 50% in the Pritish Nandy Communications co-produced Meerabai Not Out.
DQ Entertainment set up its New Media Division a year ago to spearhead the creative process for Hindi movies. The aim is to make Indian stories into animation, television content and feature films. The division is also developing a computer game.
Chakravarti said the company would look at getting second-round of funding in the second quarter of the next fiscal. It garnered about $56 million in December last year through a listing on the Alternate Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. Proceeds from the listing were used to fund its expansion in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.
Around 99% of DQ Entertainment’s productions are for overseas studios. It has worked with leading media firms such as Walt Disney, Nickelodeon and American Greetings. About 70% of the properties are co-produced and co-owned.
The company is currently co-producing the $8-million Twisted Whiskers with American Greetings. Other projects in DQ’s pipeline include The Iron Man series, which is a Marvel Comics property. Part of the production will also come to India.
DQ Entertainment is also part-producing the $9-million Caspar along with a US company and it is teaming up M6 Studio and Method Animation for the $7.8 million Little Nick. The company had bought around 20% in Method Animation some time back.
m_madhumita@dnaindia.net
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