Triggerfish to launch search for Africa’s next big animated hit

Triggerfish is one of South Africa’s biggest entrepreneurial success stories. The animation studio is best known for the feature films Zambezia and Khumba and has received millions of dollars in investment for its projects over the past few years.

Now it looks like it’ll be trying to spread some of that success with the launch of a continent-wide search for Africa’s next big blockbuster hit or animated TV series.

Details are scarce at this stage, Ventureburn has only received an invitation to launch event (pictured above), but Disney and the South African Department of Trade and Industry are involved.

Triggerfish first international animated feature, Zambezia, received a R17-million investment from South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) — an amount disclosed by the IDC in its financial results for 2009. Zambezia went on to sell more than two million tickets, raking in over US$16-million at the box office.

Read more: SA investors need to invest in local entrepreneurs: the Triggerfish story

Conceived independently and crafted on a budget, Zambezia was well received in emerging markets where it became the highest grossing film in Israel soon after its release and the second most successul independent animated film in Russia — beaten only by Gnomeo and Juliet, an independent film distributed by Disney’s Buena Vista International.

The involvement of Disney suggests that it has succeeded in its mission of making international distributors aware of African animation studios.

Ventureburn will provide updates on The Story Lab from 15 July when it launches.