We don’t pass the vibe check, maybe?
In 2019, before the world was brought to a standstill, a decorated film director approached me with the wild idea of developing a sci-fi original IP from Southeast Asia that can cross genres of production. We sketched out a film format on whatever paper that was available, and two main characters of The Sentinels came to form. Our pivot into animation during lockdown drove us to securing support with an Epic MegaGrant, and we established XZV Studio.
Our humble yellow ship has dabbled in many things. Collectively, we’re pretty sleek and uniformed. There were turbulent hours and growing pain; however, we thrive under pressure. We had a lot of things to figure out while a lot of Malaysia is still figuring things out. Since we started building in this fantasy world, we have seen many delights, honest confusion, teamwork, and what we could be.
In March of 2026, our National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) finally amended its definition of “film” to include animation. One can imagine the joy of a player in this field who has invested half of his or her lifetime awaiting the classification, even though animation was the first form of motion picture. It’s a relief, because we thought we were out on our deep-end bringing a full slate of animation products to HK FILMART.
In our belief, a viable IP is both original and fun. When those two conditions meet, adaptation is inevitable. This isn’t consumer psychology, it’s human behaviour. Film production, as it is, is hard. Animation is harder still. But that’s not an accident, live-action delivery is quicker to market than animated feature, and less expensive. It takes absolute conviction to believe in fantasy, but not after fantasy beats all analysts’ expectations.
Across the past six years, Malaysia released roughly three hundred local titles. Five of them were animated features. That is one animated feature for every fifty live-action releases, and the ratio did not improve as the industry recovered.
The cost structure explains part of it and excuses none of it. An animated feature runs about 5 times the budget of a mainstream local live-action title and takes roughly two years of pipeline against weeks or months of shoot and post. That is a real commercial disincentive. It is also precisely the kind of gap that public instruments exist to close in every market that has built an animation sector.
This is just the beginning. That’s why we’ve created Oh My Keenote! — our new series digging into what it actually takes to run a creative studio in Malaysia. Led by our trusty robot mascot, Keeno, we’ll be talking about the good, the bad, and everything in between. Stay tuned for the next part, where we’ll be diving deeper into the state of cinema on a global scale.