CJ ENM-Japan studio

▲ This image provided by CJ ENM shows its logo. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

CJ ENM-Japan studio

CJ ENM to establish joint venture to produce Japanese series for global streaming services

SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's leading media and entertainment company CJ ENM said Thursday it will set up a drama studio in Japan through a joint venture with its drama production company Studio Dragon and Line Digital Frontier, a Japanese unit of Naver Webtoon.

The three parties will jointly invest 30 billion won (US$23 million) to launch the company tentatively called "Studio Dragon Japan" in the first half of this year. Naver Webtoon is a webtoon service operated by South Korea's internet portal giant Naver.

The envisioned joint venture aims to lead the Japanese TV drama market, based on the South Korean drama studio's know-how in producing and distributing dramas as well as the Japanese company's intellectual property (IP) content, according to CJ E&M.

The size of Japan's content market had been about $191.3 billion as of last year, the third largest in the world after the United States and China. Line Digital Frontier is the largest digital comics platform in Japan in terms of the volume of transactions.

CJ ENM expects the envisioned production studio will be able to create hit shows that will differentiate themselves from existing Japanese dramas in a short period of time by utilizing IP content of Line Digital Frontier and Naver Webtoon.

"Studio Dragon Japan will serve as a bridgehead for talented creators in both Korea and Japan to interact with each other and a gateway to global expansion of competitive content," said Kang Cheolgu, executive officer of CJ ENM's Japan drama business. "We will produce premium dramas targeting various global streaming services and other new channels," he added.

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