South African animated film studio Triggerfish has secured funding for a five film slate, with the company aiming to release one film per year from 2016.
Triggerfish declined to reveal the sum of the funding – granted by South African small and medium enterprise (SME) oriented risk finance company Business Partners’ Venture Fund – to HumanIPO.
“We are very pleased with the confidence Business Partners has placed in us as we look to invest further into our development slate,” said Jean-Michel Koenig, chief financial officer (CFO) of Triggerfish.
The funding will go towards the first stage of development of five new films, with two working titles announced by Triggerfish today – Here Be Monsters, and Seal Team.
“We have a number of exciting properties in the pipeline. But we’re particularly excited by these two highly original and exciting high concept stories. And although both stories have an ocean setting, they couldn’t be more different,” said head of development at Triggerfish Anthony Silverston.
Here Be Monsters is the latest creation of writer Raffaella Delle Donne who wrote both of Triggerfish’ previous releases. The latest film tells the tale of a sea monster and a boy, in the company’s first attempt at an animated human figure.
Seal Team is an action comedy story about arch-rivals, the Cape fur seals and great white sharks, written by Brian and Jason Cleveland of CMG.
“So it was great when they came with this concept that is so close to home for us. Our first reaction was – why didn’t we think of that?!” said Triggerfish producer Stuart Forrest, of the Seal Team concept.
HumanIPO reported at the start of November that Triggerfish’s latest release, Khumba, shot to the top of the South African box office in its first weekend of sales.
Khumba has remained at number one in South Africa for the past two weeks.
