Amid ‘Jumbo' success, can Indonesia become an animation powerhouse?
Indonesian cartoon feature
Jumbo has become the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animation release in history, sparking hope by the film's producer that the country could become a regional powerhouse in the genre.
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The film follows Don, a boy often underestimated by his friends due to his large stature, as he tries to participate in a talent show with a stage play inspired by his late parents' book of fairy tales. When a bully steals the book, Don's attempt to retrieve it takes an exciting turn when he encounters Meri, a girl from another world seeking help to find her missing parents.
As of Sunday, Jumbo, which premiered on March 31, has amassed more than 3.2 million admissions, beating the previous record held by Si Juki the Movie: Panitia Hari Akhir as the most well-attended Indonesian animated film in the past eight years with 642,312 admissions.
'Jumbo has become Southeast Asia's biggest animation in terms of revenue, our gross [at the Indonesian] box office is already US$10 million per [April 14],' Angga Dwimas Sasongko, founder and group CEO of Visinema Group, the studio behind Jumbo, told This Week in Asia.
The record for the highest-grossing animated feature in the region was previously held by Mechamato Movie, a 2022 Malaysian superhero film with a total gross of around US$7.68 million, according to the entertainment website Deadline.
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