TV
Highground, signed a serialization contract with China's largest webtoon platform, and began producing dramas in earnest
The Webtoon Yo-kai, which is produced in a total of 52 episodes, is a munchkin (a new word for an unusually strong character) fantasy action in which the main character, Naro, who was an outcast high school student, is reborn as a special being (half-human, half-yo) that has passed the strongest power and confronts the monsters that appear in the city. it is a genre
It is an original IP (intellectual property) created through collaboration between High Ground, a production company specializing in video content, and Dream Factory Studio, a production company specializing in animation, and is currently being serialized on Kakao Webtoon and Kakao Page.
Webtoon Yokai surpassed 1.71 million views in 6 months after its first serialization on Kakao Webtoon and Kakao Page on November 6 last year, and began its leap into the global market starting with the launch of Kwai Quan on the 20th of last month. Kwai Quan is a large webtoon platform with more than 340 million subscribers as of 2021, and the number of monthly active users (MAU) exceeds 50 million.
High Ground also embarks on the 'video content (drama) production' of the webtoon Yokai. The ghost video content is planned to be produced targeting the OTT platform, and related procedures such as hiring a screenwriter and director are currently underway. The plan is to start filming in earnest around July at the earliest.
Previously, Highground signed a 'Webtoon IP joint development business agreement (MOU)' with animation production company Dream Factory Studio as part of a webtoon-based video project, and has been jointly developing a webtoon monster. In particular, this project is a collaboration model between High Ground, a content producer with expertise in video production, and Dream Factory Studio, an animation production company specializing in drawing, and is expected to bring out high quality in all areas, including drawing, scenario, and directing.
Hwan-cheol Kim, CEO of Highground, said, “We expect that Yokai will be able to elicit a good response from Kwai Quan, a global platform with a high market share. I will do my best to complete a work that maximizes my professionalism.”
Dream Factory Studio has presented various types of works, such as full-length animations targeting the global market, TV series animations targeting kids, and short-forms targeting all age groups. In order to secure competitiveness in the webtoon market, in 2021, a dedicated webtoon team consisting of planning, directing, and artists was established, and the company is concentrating its efforts on developing original IP.
Reporter Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia bella@tenasia.co.kr
