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Asian markets are interested in remaking Russian TV series

South Korean and other Asian companies are showing interest in buying the format rights to Russian TV series. They are also interested in Russian thrillers, historical films (both feature films and documentaries), and comedies. This was evidenced by the response to Russian companies showing more than 160 projects at the recent South Korean content market Broadcast Worldwide (BCWW) 2022. The projects ranged from comedies about a matriarchy and the life of modern vampires to a mystical thriller about a women’s boarding school and a documentary on an expedition to the Arctic. Russian cartoons were also popular, content buyers especially appreciated the pursuit comedy genre in the animated series about the adventures of the Wolf and the Hare.

Representatives of South Korea, China, India, and Malaysia were most actively interested in Russian projects. The online participation of the Russian film industry in BCWW 2022 under the umbrella brand Russian Content Worldwide (RCW) was organized by ROSKINO.

ROSKINO CEO Inna Shalyto said: “This is not the first time that the Russian companies have noted the trend to purchase formats and adapt content—​​partners at the UAE and Vietnam markets were also interested in format rights. The interest in Russian projects suggests that more and more universal stories are appearing in our film industry. These stories can be adapted to the realities of other cultures, and thus have great international potential. At the recent markets in the Middle East, Vietnam, and South Korea, we have seen keen interest from buyers in India, as well as Japan, which is important in the context of our 2022 plan to continue dialogue with buyers at the markets in this region. We are now actively exploring participation in one of the Japanese content markets and the Indian FILM BAZAAR.”

CTB Film Company discussed the release of the cartoon The Barkers: Mind the Cats! in South Korea and the acquisition of the rights to the second film The Barkers—Teamand the animated series The Barkers from the same cinematic universe. The purchase by Free TV for rights to the animated series Moonzy and The Barkers for Mongolia, and the acquisition of the rights to the company’s animated films in China are being considered.

SMF Animation noted that local distributors expressed great interest in the company’s projects, especially the genre of pursuit comedy, such as the animated series I’ll Get You! Holidays. In the South Korean market, SMF Animation presented The Secrets of Honey Hills, The Adventures of Peter and Wolf, and other projects.

Riki Group presented the animation projects The Fixies, Beardy Bodo, Tina and Tony, Babyriki, and this year’s feature film Finnick. BCWW was another opportunity for the company to meet with partners. In Korea itself, the company’s projects have been available for a long time: for example, The Fixies are aired on the children’s TV channel EBS, last year Babyriki started on the BabyBeaver platform, in August of this year, Tina and Tony premiered on the Daekyo NoriQ channel.

RED CARPET Studio presented the hits Cosmic Doctor Cat – the original project of the studio and Super Meow – the project of Oleg Roy and Roy Entertainment, which Red Carpet has been successfully distributing since March 2022. Preliminary agreements have been reached with several digital services and TV channels.

Platoshka animation studio introduced the animated series Tsvetnyashki  which has elements of game-based learning for 0-5 years olds. The company noted that they had held talks with several Korean sites.

Category: News