This week The Stolen Princess (Animagrad, FILM.UA Group) animated film was released in the cinemas of three European countries. On April 5, the film was premiered in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and starting from today it is shown in Bulgaria.
ProFilms Bulgaria, the Bulgarian distributor, did a lot of work on adapting the cartoon. Film stars and show business celebrities were involved in the dubbing: the protagonist role of Ruslan was given to Momchil Stepanov, a well-known Romanian singer and actor, participant of X Factor and The Voice of Bulgaria.
“Dubbing cartoons has been my dream since childhood. When I was little and watched cartoons, I was amazed by the characters’ voices and imagined I’d be the person who’d lend his voice someday as well. I was ten years old when I first became aware of this dream,” said Momchil in his interview to Trud, a Bulgarian publication.
Momchil has a lot of experience in the dubbing of both animated and feature films. You can hear his voice in cartoons from Walt Disney Animation Studios, namely as demigod Maui (Moana) and Kristoff (Frozen). In Interview with the Vampire, Momchil gave his voice to Lestat, and in Matrix trilogy, to agent Smith; his portfolio also includes other iconic pop culture characters.
In The Stolen Princess, the Bulgarian actor does not only speak in the voice of Ruslan but also sings! The theme song “Do zirok” performed in Ukrainian by vocalists of Vremya i Steklo Nadya Dorofeeva and Pozitiff is sung by Momchil in the Bulgarian version of the cartoon.
The celebrity dubbing team also included Atanas Srebrev, an actor known for dubbing Hollywood blockbusters (Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, 300: Rise of an Empire, Hitman, The Contract); in the film, he gave his voice to Learned Cat. Finn speaks through actor and singer Nencho Balabanov specializing in dubbing animated films and series (Mulan, Adventure Time, Phineas and Ferb, Green Lantern, etc.). Kyiv prince Volodymyr got his voice from a professional dubbing actor Stanislav Pischalov; Chornomor the Sorcerer, from Georgi Stoyanov; Nestor who became Lestor in Bulgarian version, from Sotir Melev; and Kyiv princess Mila, from actress Elena Grozdanova.
For the cartoon’s advertising campaign, four posters and official teaser were translated into Bulgarian; for digital activities, casting cards with the celebrities who gave their voices to the characters were developed.
For screening in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the film was dubbed in Croatian and got the title Ukradena princeza (The Stolen Princess). A significant portion of promo package was adapted; an advertising campaign started in social networks on the eve of the release.
Official poster, character cards, promo videos, and first trailer to the cartoon were translated into Croatian. Professional TV and film actors were involved in the dubbing, namely Janko Rakos, Ivan Djuricic, Hrvoje Klobucar, and Anna Marija Percaic. The distributing company in these territories was Blitz Group.
The theatrical release of The Stolen Princess is ongoing in Turkey, Romania, and Ukraine. In Romania, the Ukrainian cartoon was watched by 92,077 viewers; after the third weekend, its box offices amounted to $396,277. In Turkey, the second weekend of release has finished: 78,139 viewers watched the cartoon, and the box office amounted to $249,539. In Ukrainian theatrical release, the box office amounted to 35,357,625 UAH, and there were 480,841 viewers in total.
The following country of international distribution for The Stolen Princess will be Egypt: the Ukrainian cartoon will go on cinema screens starting from April 11. Starting from April 12, it will appear in Middle East countries (United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrein); starting from April 13, in Vietnam; and starting from April 27, in Lithuania. In May, The Stolen Princess will become available to the viewers from Latvia, Serbia, and the Czech Republic; in summer, to those from Israel, China, Estonia, Poland, Slovenia, and South Korea. In total, the cartoon has been presold to over 50 countries, including France, Germany, the countries of Middle East, Southern Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Producer: Egor Olesov. Director: Oleg Malamuzh. Scriptwriter: Yaroslav Voytseshek. Art-director: Kristian Koskinen.
FYI. The Stolen Princess is the first animated feature film for Ukrainian and international release in the production line of the Animagrad studio. The premiere of the film in Ukraine was March 7, 2018. The rights for its release have been pre-sold to more than 50 territories, including China, South Korea, France, Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, countries of the MENA region and Latin America. The Stolen Princess became the winner of the 9th competitive selection of Ukrainian State Film Agency; the sum of state financing amounts to about 20 percent of the film’s total budget of 95 million UAH.
