ITV

Tag: Rovio Entertainment

  • The Angry Birds movie flies to the top of the box office with gross opening weekend of Rs. 12.8 crore

    The Angry Birds movie flies to the top of the box office with gross opening weekend of Rs. 12.8 crore

    MUMBAI: Rovio Entertainment and Sony Pictures’ The Angry Birds Movie was #1 at the Indian box office this weekend with a box office gross of approximately Rs. 12.8 crore (USD 1.91m) making it the highest opening weekend for a non-franchise animated film and the second biggest opening for an animated film on the whole. It also had the distinction for being the widest animated release in India with 696 locations in English, Hindi and Tamil and released in both 2D and 3D.

    The trans-created Hindi version of the film was also very popular and contributed a strong 27% to the total collection – the highest ever for an animated Hollywood film.

    Sony Pictures India managing director Vivek Krishnani commented on opening saying, “The movie had huge anticipation, particularly for one that is not a sequel. This can be attributed to the fact that the awareness of the franchise in India is 98% amongst the target audience and that we promoted it as an event film that could not be missed. Families are enjoying the film but the humour is connecting with youth as well. This positive reception amongst all ages, combined with the vacations continuing across the country, gives us confidence that the film will continue its strong run in the weeks to come.”

  • The Angry Birds movie flies to the top of the box office with gross opening weekend of Rs. 12.8 crore

    The Angry Birds movie flies to the top of the box office with gross opening weekend of Rs. 12.8 crore

    MUMBAI: Rovio Entertainment and Sony Pictures’ The Angry Birds Movie was #1 at the Indian box office this weekend with a box office gross of approximately Rs. 12.8 crore (USD 1.91m) making it the highest opening weekend for a non-franchise animated film and the second biggest opening for an animated film on the whole. It also had the distinction for being the widest animated release in India with 696 locations in English, Hindi and Tamil and released in both 2D and 3D.

    The trans-created Hindi version of the film was also very popular and contributed a strong 27% to the total collection – the highest ever for an animated Hollywood film.

    Sony Pictures India managing director Vivek Krishnani commented on opening saying, “The movie had huge anticipation, particularly for one that is not a sequel. This can be attributed to the fact that the awareness of the franchise in India is 98% amongst the target audience and that we promoted it as an event film that could not be missed. Families are enjoying the film but the humour is connecting with youth as well. This positive reception amongst all ages, combined with the vacations continuing across the country, gives us confidence that the film will continue its strong run in the weeks to come.”

  • Rovio’s Angry Birds takes flight with Global Eagle Entertainment

    Rovio’s Angry Birds takes flight with Global Eagle Entertainment

    MUMBAI: Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE) Inc has partnered with Rovio Entertainment to provide the casual mobile gaming franchise Angry Birds, to airlines as inflight entertainment content.

     

    Angry Birds is the most downloaded mobile game of all time, boasting 2.8 billion downloads across all types of platforms. Through this agreement, GEE is providing customized Angry Birds content specifically for seat-back entertainment systems, and will soon market it to airline customers.

     

    GEE is the provider of inflight games and media content to airlines. With a catalogue of over 150 titles in its AirGames portfolio, and 20 years of experience in supplying popular casual games for seat-back and wireless inflight entertainment systems, the company provides licensed and in-house designed games to over one hundred airlines around the world.

     

    “Since it was first introduced, Angry Birds has grown into one of the most recognized brands in the world. We are very excited to be able to offer our airline customers this exclusive opportunity to elevate their passenger experience offering. Angry Birds’ mischievous casual game style, engaging short game play and international appeal make it an ideal addition to an airline’s entertainment line-up,” said GEE SVP of digital products Alexis Steinman. 

     

    “In the last five years, Angry Birds have been spreading their wings to every corner of the world. Thanks to our agreement with GEE, passengers will be able to take flight and join the Angry Birds on their mile high adventures. We love the idea of entertaining in the sky,” added Rovio Entertainment vice president of business development games Miikka Lindgren.

     

  • World animation industry comes together at MipJunior 2014

    World animation industry comes together at MipJunior 2014

    CANNES: The wait is over as the influential buyers, sellers and producers from world over unite at MipJunior 2014, what is called the biggest international digital library of kids’ programmes. Over the next two days, these influential digital players, publishers and licensing executives will present, discover and screen the very latest content, giving them the edge on concluding deals at MIPCOM.

     

    Presenting a huge bouquet of content is also the Indian animation industry, which is looking for co-production deals with international players, while also presenting its work to the world.

    Being held at Palm Beach in Cannes, MipJunior has a new address this year.

     

    The focus at this year’s MipJunior is to capture kids where ever they are watching content. Setting the right tune for the exciting two days, is the session on ‘Kids and Multi Screens’, where panelists will find out how changes in technology is impacting kids’ viewing habits.

     

    Another exciting session to look forward to is ‘The digital strategists show and tell: Hit IPs breaking through all screens’, moderated by World Screen managing editor Brzoznowski Kristin. The session will see Rovio Entertainment head of content strategy Dorra Nick, PlayKids worldwide head of content Gorfine Bethany, Unicorn Black founder and CEO Haroon Rashid Aaron and 1B9 Entertainment COO Liberini Marcelo educating people on the strategies that work the most to engage young audiences in multi-screen content consumption.

     

    While day one will conclude with close to four screenings, day two will see speakers talking about the emerging multi-platform acquisition trends, the next gen TV projects for connected kids, keeping up with connected kids and a guide to developing the future kids’ classics on the web.

     

  • Angry Birds movie gets two directors

    Angry Birds movie gets two directors

    MUMBAI: The popular phone game is all set to be made into a feature film and directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly. It will be based on the game by Rovio Entertainment.

     

    Kaytis has an experience of 19 years and has recently worked on the animation Tangled as well as Wreck-It Ralph. The upcoming Frozen also has his name to the list.

     

    Reily has been with Sony for nearly 10 years and has served as storyboard artist on the likes of Hotel Transylvania, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs as well as its sequel. He was also head of story at Sony Pictures Animation.

     

    It will be a directorial debut for both of them as well as the first feature for Rovio. It is producing the pic in-house.

     

    John Cohen is producing it along with Catherine Winder while David Maisel is executive producing. Jon Vitti is writing the script.

  • Angry Birds takes flight with a film

    Angry Birds takes flight with a film

    MUMBAI: The popular video game 'Angry Birds' will make the transition to the big screen with a film. Rovio Entertainment has announced that comedy writer Jon Vitti will write the screenplay for the upcoming animated 3D film. Additionally, veteran producer Catherine Winder is joining the production team that includes producer John Cohen and executive producer David Maisel. The movie is slated for a 1 July 2016 release and will to be distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures.

    Rovio Entertainment CEO Mikael Hed said, "I'm very excited that Jon and Catherine have joined us, bringing with them their vast expertise. I'm confident we are building the right team to deliver an amazing movie experience to our fans"

    Cohen said, "I'm thrilled to have Jon and Catherine joining the project. Jon is one of the funniest writers I know, and we're looking forward to working with him to bring the birds and pigs to life on the big screen. Catherine is a fantastic producer, with over 20 years of film and television experience, and I'm very excited to have her as a part of our filmmaking team"

    Angry Birds is one of the world's biggest entertainment franchises, starting in 2009 with the original mobile game that remains the number one paid app of all time. Angry Birds has expanded rapidly into entertainment, publishing, and licensing to become a beloved international brand.

    The upcoming movie marks Rovio's first foray into feature films, although fans have already been introduced to the Angry Birds world with the weekly 'Angry Birds' Toons animated series. Rovio launched the series in March through its Angry Birds apps, as well as on select video-on-demand channel providers, Smart TVs, connected devices, and on select TV networks around the world. Paving the way for a full-length feature film, Angry Birds Toons has been a massive success for Rovio clocking in over 150 million views from the Angry Birds apps alone within the first six weeks.

  • Rovio’s angry birds feature film nests at Sony pictures entertainment

    NEW DELHI: Sony Pictures Entertainment has won the exclusive worldwide distribution rights to the much anticipated Angry Birds animated film, making it one of the most high-profile deals of the year.

    The 3D film is being developed, produced, and financed by Rovio Entertainment and will be released worldwide by Sony Pictures on 1 July 2016. Several major studios pursued the global film rights in recent weeks, with Sony Pictures Entertainment emerging as the winner.

    Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Michael Lynton, Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal and Rovio Entertainment CEO Mikael Hed jointly announced their partnership today. John Cohen and David Maisel – producer of Despicable Me and executive producer of Iron Man, respectively – are both on board for the new Angry Birds feature film. Cohen will serve as producer and Maisel is executive producer.

    Commenting on the announcement, Mikael Hed said, “Sony impressed us with their great attitude, determination, and professionalism. They convinced us that we have found the right partners and team to help us market and distribute our first motion picture. Michael, Amy, Jeff Blake, Sony’s marketing and distribution head, and their teams will be the best possible collaborators as we get set to take our franchise to the next level.”

    Lynton and Pascal said, “Every studio in town would love to add Angry Birds to their slate. There are few titles out there that bring this kind of excitement, brand awareness and built-in audience to the table. We’re thrilled to be distributing this film and we hope this is just the beginning of what will be a long relationship with Rovio as we look for ways to work on future projects together.”

    David Maisel and John Cohen said, “We are very excited to join with Sony Pictures in presenting this movie to the world in 2016 and we will have many more announcements as we begin production in the coming months.”

    Angry Birds is one of the world’s biggest entertainment franchises, starting in 2009 with the original mobile game that remains the number one paid app of all time. Angry Birds has expanded rapidly into entertainment, publishing, and licensing to become a beloved international brand.

    Angry Birds has been praised for its great value and simple, casual gameplay. Players use a slingshot to launch birds at green pigs in an attempt to get their eggs back, with the game setting the model for what is possible in terms of game development and commercial success. To date, the Angry Birds and Bad Piggies games have been downloaded more than 1.7 billion times across platforms and versions.

    The upcoming movie marks Rovio Entertainment’s first foray into feature films, although fans have already been introduced to the Angry Birds world with the weekly Angry Birds Toons animated series. Rovio launched the series in March through its Angry Birds apps as well as on select video-on-demand channel providers, Smart TVs, connected devices, and on select TV networks around the world. Paving the way for a full-length feature film, Angry Birds Toons has been a massive success for Rovio clocking in over 150 million views from the Angry Birds apps alone within the first six weeks.

    While known for distributing world renowned motion picture franchises such as Spider-Man, Sony Pictures has been building a strong reputation in contemporary animation through its house production unit, Sony Pictures Animation, and hit films including Hotel Transylvania, The Smurfs, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Surf’s Up, Open Season, and Aardman’s Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

  • Build creativity around brands across platforms: Holm

    MUMBAI: Brands have to learn to be creative across all platforms so that they can engage today’s youth, the most important segment that marketers need to chase to successfully sell their products.

    “You need to play the plot with creativity and remember to use all the screens. Today’s youth is a multi-tasker and to grab their attention you have to be present on all the screens they use. Each screen from the desktop to the iPhone have a unique technology that can be leveraged to engage the consumer,” said Rovio Asia SVP Henry Holm.

    Speaking about the “O-O-O” theory, Holm said it is a different take on the 360 degree marketing strategy in that it shuffles between online presence, offline connect and back to online. This works well with brands which operate in the online space. While the digital space is where the product or service exists, the offline space is used to create touch and feel experiences which make an imprint on the consumer’s conscious and engage them. Once the offline exercise is carried out, the consumer may directly follow up by going online or the brand may provide an incentive to do so.

    Apart from activiations, a brand may collaborate with other compatible brands or go the licensing and merchandising way. Many brands have taken the L&M route to increase consumer engagement and involvement. The trick is to find a way to harness fan value, mutual partner benefit and brand fit simultaneously, Holm elaborated while speaking at the MTV Youth Marketing Forum.

    Rovio Entertainment, the developers of the Angry Birds game, has had a huge success ride in the past decade. Holm shared the brand’s experience with marketing for the youth along with their key learnings.

    Though it may feel like the game has been around for quite some time, the journey started a mere two and a half years back. “Since the beginning our aim has been to concentrate on the characters and create a connect with the audiences through our online-offline-online strategy,” said Holm. “While exciting features may help grab eyeballs, unless a fan base is built, the success will be short-lived.”

    Rovio carried out an activation in association with T mobile in Spain (Terrassa near Barcelona) where a real life Angry Birds stage was set up. Players could aim the birds on the evil pigs on the iPhone installed at the site and the bird’s trajectory would be simulated in real life on the stage.

    The activation not only caught the fancy of the people on that day, but the videos of the event filmed by participants went viral and resulted in significant visibility for the brand. The players were stimulated by the game and went online to relive the experience in the digital space, Holm said.