KUALA LUMPUR: The production company behind the smash hit computer animated series Upin & Ipin is considering building an actual replica of the fictional village of Kampung Durian Runtuh where the twins live for a theme park in Johor.
According to news reports, Les' Copaque Production Sdn Bhd's founder, managing director and producer Burhanuddin Md Radzi had recently shared plans for an Upin & Ipin theme park on Facebook.
In a series of posts, Burhanuddin revealed that a suitable area had been found somewhere in Johor Baru.
The theme park would feature an interactive version of Kampung Durian Runtuh from the series to entertain and delight fans.
"God-willing, it will hopefully be materialised this time. We will start the planning immediately and hopefully it will be operational in January of 2023.
"It will be a new attraction in JB for all our fans in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei," he said.
Burhanuddin added that ticket prices would be affordable for everyone and that the location of the theme park was an important factor.
He also let on that that he had turned down a previous offer in 2012 for an Upin & Ipin theme park to be constructed on a 42 acre plot of land in Ipoh, Perak where the Movie Animation Park Studios (MAPS) is currently located.
"Since we have a small population, you need to attract foreign visitors to patronise your theme park. Ipoh is not an ideal site for foreign visitors.
"From KLIA you need to travel about three hours and from Penang about two hours. It is so inconvenient for tourists.
"Since Johor has all the facilities for them to come, that is why we head for JB," he said.
Burhanuddin further explained that a local intellectual property (IP) theme park would fare better than foreign ones that were very expensive to operate.
He also mentioned that foreign theme parks were slowly losing its appeal referring to the likes of the Angry Bird Activity Park and the Sanrio Hello Kitty Town in Johor.
"The other setback of having a foreign IP is that you can't simply change the content as you need to get the approval of the IP owners.
"And there is a need to change the content to suit the local visitors."
Les' Copaque was established in 2005 and has been producing the Upin & Ipin series since 2007.
The show which follows the comedic adventures of the titular 5-year-old twin brothers is now in its 15th season and is considered the longest running Malaysian animated series.
The popular characters were also featured in three movies, namely Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula (2009), Upin & Ipin: Jeng Jeng Jeng! (2016) and Upin & Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal (2019).
It was reported earlier this year that the Upin & Ipin series had begun screening on the popular streaming service Netflix in the UK and Australia.
Last year, the Les' Copaque's online channel became the first ever Malaysian YouTube channel to receive the Diamond Play Button Award after garnering over 10 million subscribers.