CJ ENM, Studio Dragon & Line Digital Frontier Form Studio Dragon Japan JV – Deadline

Korea CJ ENM and its manufacturing subsidiary Dragon Studiotogether with Naver A subsidiary of Webtoon Digital Frontier line cooperate in a joint venture in Japan under the previous name Dragon Japan Studio. A new production studio will be set up in the first half of this year with $ 30 billion ($ 23 million) invested by the three organizations.

The stated goal of Studio Dragon Japan is to become the leading manufacturing company in the market, providing premium content based on CJ ENM and Studio Dragon experience combined with the original premium IP Digital Line Frontier. The new company will cover all stages of content production from development and investment to production and distribution.

Studio Dragon is Asia’s largest screenwriting studio with more than 183 global premium IPs and releases about 30 series each year that are distributed across a variety of platforms. The studio is known for such popular series as Emergency landing on you, Hotel Del Luna and Sweet house. Line Digital Frontier is a subsidiary of Naver Webtoon and is the leading web comics platform in the Japanese digital market, where the web comics service Line Manga operates.

CJ ENM, Studio Dragon and Line Digital Frontier will strive to create synergies to deliver premium content in a short amount of time.

The company is part of Korean media giant CJ ENM’s strategy to expand its multi-studio structure internationally. Studio Dragon Japan will be the company’s fourth production studio along with Studio Dragon, Endeavor Content and the recently announced CJ ENM Studios. With the addition of Studio Dragon Japan, CJ ENM now has production studios in Korea, the US and Japan.

Kang Chelgu, CEO of Japanese drama business CJ ENM, said: “Based on the global network and the presence of CJ ENM and Studio Dragon, Studio Dragon Japan will serve as a bridge between the leading content creators in Korea and Japan and will act as a gateway for these major IPs. -addresses to enter the world market. Studio Dragon Japan will produce premium content for global channels, including streaming platforms. ”

Kim Shinbe, head of Line Manga, added: “By creating a joint venture, we have provided an IP value chain that can enliven web cartoons and video content in Japan. We will promote the excellence of webtoon IP through high-quality series aimed at the global market, and strengthen our position as a forerunner in the entertainment industry. ”

CJ ENM and Naver previously entered into a partnership in October 2020 and have been producing ever since Sweet house and Yumi cells based on the IP of the latter.