Animation production companies Aniventure, Zaratan, and Alcyde are teaming with India’s Arka Productions to expand the globally successful Baahubali franchise into a new, epic full-length CGI animated feature film.
Zaratan was formed by for former Axis Studios staffers, Andrew Pearce and Paula Bird.
The new movie, Baahubali: The Eternal War – Part 1, will be a spin-off from the highest-grossing Indian film franchise of all time, and is set to be directed by Ishan Shukla (Star Wars: Visions – “The Bandits of Golak”) and written by Scott Mosier (Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma).
Arka Productions, the owners of the Baahubali IP, sought partners to develop a “visually innovative and unprecedented cinematic look” for the animated spin-off, with production planned to be primarily executed in India.
Arka Producer Shobu Yarlagadda said: “The initial vision was very ambitious. Baahubali is more than just a film franchise; it’s a cultural phenomenon and a deeply emotional universe for millions of fans. To bring it into a new medium like animation, we needed partners who not only understood world-class production but who could truly respect and elevate the epic scope of the story with a bold, stylised visual artistry never seen before in Indian cinema. Aniventure, Zaratan, and Alcyde are those partners.”
Aniventure’s Adam Nagle spearheaded the deal, partnering with Zaratan’s Andrew Pearce & Paula Bird to deliver a pre production package. They brought on Alcyde Studio to help develop the look and guide the visual development across the entire film, overseeing storyboard, 3D previsualization, and key character designs to ensure a coherent and compelling visual storytelling.
“Working on such an iconic story alongside director Ishan Shukla was both thrilling and a huge responsibility,” said Antoine Charreyron, who is directing the animation for Alcyde Studio. “It was so important for our Production Designer Florent Auguy and CG Supervisor Dorian Marchesin that we honor the grandeur of the world of Baahubali while bringing our own unique vision, combining epic scale with the highest visual fidelity that speaks to every audience.”
The new CG ‘Look of Picture’, featuring animation from the upcoming picture, is being showcased as an interlude between Part 1 and Part 2 of the recent, critically acclaimed re-release of the live-action blockbuster, ‘Baahubali: The Epic’ .
“The Baahuabli universe needed a truly distinct visual style to capture the unique, edgier tone we were aiming for,” added Andrew Pearce, Producer for Zaratan. “Our collaboration with Alcyde and Les Androids Associés has achieved a CG look that is cinematic, fresh, and perfectly honors the scale of the Baahubali legacy while breaking new ground.”
Jon Creamer
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