IT’S ironic that animated films featuring inanimate objects can entertain and tug at the heart-strings of moviegoers around the world and make so much money at the box office too.
Just look at Pixar Animation Studio’s Toy Story franchise.
That’s the magic of moviemaking and local production powerhouse KRU Studios intends to cast its own spell as it aspires to create an entertaining product with its latest animated feature film, Wheely.
The new action comedy film follows the titular character, an underdog cabbie and a racer at heart, who attempts to become king of the road in his hometown of Gasket City, despite being on the wrong side of the law and constantly looked down by the elitist luxury cars.
But during a delivery gone awry, Wheely bumps into the famous Italian model, Bella di Monetti and falls “bonnet-over-wheels” in love with this beautiful uptown girl, who also happens to be a down-to-earth luxury car.
The stakes are raised when Wheely and his best friend Putt Putt dig themselves into a deeper hole after they have to confront an underground car-napping syndicate led by the monster 18-wheeler truck, Kaiser.
WORLDWIDE DRIVE
Produced by Kartun Studios, a subsidiary of KRU International, and distributed locally by Primeworks Studios, the upcoming action comedy film has already made headlines by obtaining strong international pre-sales in over 100 countries.
When met last month in Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Norman Abdul Halim, 46, said that the company had secured the impressive amount of pre-sales through various international film markets in Cannes, Los Angeles and Berlin.
The executive president and group CEO of KRU’s companies said: “The pre-sale strategy is one that works with animation since we can produce a series of early clips to get people overseas interested in it early on in the creation stage,” he said.
The film, which took four years to complete, had received orders from distributors in a wide variety of countries including Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brazil, Argentina, Equador, Spain, the Czech Republic, Russia, Poland, Germany and France.
Aside from acquiring the needed funding, Norman added that the working process was also a good way of collaborating and learning to come up with a product that could travel.
A UNIQUE VEHICLE
“I came up with the idea for Wheely back in 2014 and the initial title for the movie was KL Taxi. But when we marketed it internationally our buyers didn’t get the name. Their reaction was, ‘What is KL?’ So we changed the title to Wheely since it’s the main character’s name,” said Norman on the film which is directed by his brother Yusry.
He added that although anthropomorphic vehicles are nothing new in the movie world with characters from Cars to the Herbie series, what Wheely promises is something different through its storyline and character designs.
Norman elaborated on the comparisons with Pixar’s Cars. “People’s reaction when they first hear of this new movie is that it’s a Cars rip-off. On one hand it’s an honour to be compared to such a great product,” said Norman with a laugh.
He said that their buyers had also asked about that animated movie from 2008, which had spawned two sequels.
“We had to educate them on the new film. It’s like the superhero genre has Batman, Superman and Spider-Man. Although they’re all superheroes, each has his own abilities, origin, character and stories. It has its own unique characters, designs, plot, storyline and flavour.” said Norman.
Another example he gave was two animated movies that had the same concept featuring anthropomorphic aircraft.
“There was the Lionsgate movie Wings (2012) and Disney’s Planes (2013) with each having a different storyline and feel. So that’s what we’re trying to tell cinemagoers,” he said.
INPUT FROM VARIOUS LOCALES
Norman added that the car designs went through various revisions, mainly due to the reactions and feedback from buyers as well.
One key characteristic was that the main character wouldn’t be red to move away from further comparisons with Cars.
Is that why Wheely is not red and white like regular taxis in Malaysia? “Yes but you know, back in the 1980s our taxis were yellow and black, so it’s still Malaysian in that sense,” he said.
Norman’s concept and initial idea was handed over to Yusri who expanded on the storyline. “We got two UK writers to work on the drafts for the script but we eventually realised that the humour and sensibilities were very British. We wanted it to be more American rather than English,” said Norman.
He added that they eventually got help from local celebs Sarimah Ibrahim and Lisa Surihani to make the script more accessible to those accustomed to watching Hollywood fare.
“So the film we have today is the result of a combination of different people, including our foreign distributors, who all gave their input and suggestions.”
“It also went through a process of tweaking and re-tweaking. We created it and then benchmarked it with Cars, if we saw any similarities, we changed it.”
“We also registered this at the US copyright office in 2014. We wanted to make it as unique as possible, so we tried our best to come up with characters that you don’t see in any other movies,” he said.
A VOICE FOR ALL
Wheely will be screened in Malaysia in two languages, English and Malay. Local stars Zizan Razak, Johan Raja Lawak and Lisa Surihani provide the voices to Wheely, Putt Putt and Bella di Monetti respectively in the Malay language version.
Norman says they chose good but unknown or up-and-coming US and local voice actors for the English dubbing.
“The reality of it is that local Malaysian jokes and international jokes are different. You see the same images onscreen but it’ll have a different flavour and comic timing. We wanted to satisfy the different segments of our society with the Malay and English versions,” he said.
Norman added that the various foreign film distributors will get to dub it to their own respective languages.
“There’ll be Mandarin, German versions and so on for the overseas market. They get to use voices from people who are famous in their own home territory. That’s why animation works well overseas,” he said.
Norman added that they have also produced a stereoscopic 3D version for Russia and some other countries.
EASY RIDER
It was intentional to make a film with a universal storyline that would be relatable to a wide range of people and age groups as well.
Norman said that Wheely would appeal to people from all walks of life and that it promotes many good values, from believing in oneself, being proactive and knowing that anyone can succeed no matter their background or status.
“We target the kids below 12. But it’ll also be entertaining for parents and teens as well. The whole family will enjoy it,” said Norman.
He added that Malaysians will get a kick out of seeing some of the backdrops and settings too.
“We had to find a balance in localising and at the same time making everything relatable to non-Malaysians,” said Norman of the production work which was done entirely at KRU Animation Studios in Ipoh, Perak.
Popular locations around Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and other local tourist destinations served as references. “There are many China Towns around the world but we were inspired by Petaling Street,” he added.
ANIMATED SUCCESS
Wheely is produced by Kartun Studios, which Norman explained as a way to create a brand for the kids and family segment.
“For us this movie is an achievement. It’s a Malaysian product and a way to bring the name of the country to the world.
“We’re proud to be part of this strategy in the creative content industry of the nation that is able to penetrate foreign markets through animation and intellectual property,” he said.
Norman added that Malaysia in general was strong in the animation arena having built up some recognisable brands such as Upin & Ipin, Boboiboy and Ajen Ali.
Another aspect that he is proud of is the development of talent through KRU Academy which was setup in 2012 to bolster the creative and digital arts.
“We started training our own students who have since completed their studies and some have moved on to work on Wheely so I feel very proud of this development as well.
“The fact that these individuals have the opportunity to work on a film that will travel around the world is a very valuable experience. It also shows that Malaysian talents are ready to go global. It’s just that they need the pathway and a chance to work on such projects,” he said.
LOOKING GOOD
Norman says that Wheely is a step in the right direction and the company aims to improve itself with this film which is its second animated production.
Its first was an animal adventure tale called Ribbit which was released in 2014.
“Wheely is certainly our biggest challenge so far but we learned a lot from Ribbit, where we built up our initial network of overseas distributors who are now our repeat customers for the new film,” he said.
On the issue of budget, Norman said that Wheely has a working budget of USD3-5 million and had about 100 people working on it. In comparison, the latest Incredibles 2 film by Pixar was made with USD200 million and a big Hollywood animation studio usually has around 300 to 400 people working on it.
“More money means better production values but I’m happy to say that Wheely looks good despite everything. Even people who have seen the trailers have praised the animation and look of the film.”
“Of course our next production will be better than this, we always aspire to improve ourselves,” he said.
Norman hinted that their next animated film, which is due to be released next year if everything goes well, will be about an orangutan.
“It’s an action comedy adventure for kids and families. We’re trying to tell more Malaysian stories but with a universal appeal. We’re looking at ways to position and re-tell local folklore characters to come up with fresh perspectives.
On what he envisions for Wheely, Norman said: “My hope is that everyone who sees it in the cinemas will be entertained and have a good time. I also hope that kids will look at Wheely as a hero.”
He added: “Since we’ll be celebrating merdeka on Aug 31, I also hope that this film will help to raise the spirits of the people now living in the new era of Malaysia and to feel a sense of pride for what we can do and to dream big.”
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Wheely premieres in cinemas nationwide on Aug 16.