Primeworks Studios and WAU Animation announced the premiere of the EJEN ALI animated series on the biggest Chinese online video platform; Tencent Video, in a content partnership deal brokered by CAWRO, the official distributor of the programme in China. 

The move marks EJEN ALI’s first break into China’s entertainment scene, where the demand for content on online video platforms is rapidly growing and fast becoming the platform of choice for major advertisers, a trend expected to grow steadily over the next five years. Within four days of release on Tencent Video, the series emerged as one of the Top Three highly-rated overseas programmes on the platform.

Dato’ Khairul Anwar Salleh, Chief Executive Officer of Primeworks Studios and Media Prima Television Networks, said, “Following the heels of EJEN ALI THE MOVIE’s positive reception at the local theatres last year, we are excited to announce this partnership with CAWRO in our strategy to expand the EJEN ALI brand internationally. It is timely for this showpiece of Malaysian animation created by our talented partners WAU Animation to garner more international attention and this strategic partnership underscores our commitment to bring the best of Malaysian content to the world and to kickstart the brand’s licensing and merchandising business in the region.”

Usamah Zaid Yasin, Chief Executive Officer of WAU Animation adds: “It’s always exciting to see our work meet new audiences, so we hope the series will be equally well-received in China. The dream of course is to then bring the series’ next installment, EJEN ALI THE MOVIE to the big theatre screens in China, so we remain hopeful that can be a reality as the country and the entertainment industry move into the recovery stage from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

EJEN ALI features a boy who accidentally binds himself to an intelligence device, IRIS, belonging to an espionage agency, MATA. He then finds himself unwillingly recruited as a secret agent whilst trying to juggle his already chaotic normal life. Since its debut on Malaysian free-to-air television channel TV3 Malaysia in 2016, EJEN ALI has been broadcasted in over 50 countries in South-East Asia, Middle East, and North Africa, the Indian sub-continent, and North America. The animation series has also spawned three standalone mobile games with over 7,000,000 million downloads to date, available on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. The series was followed by EJEN ALI THE MOVIE in December 2019, which raked in an impressive USD8million at the box-office and on-demand platforms in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Indonesia, making it the highest-grossing animated film in Malaysia. 

The EJEN ALI series is available from 1st December 2020 on Tencent Video China and is dubbed in Mandarin.