WYSIWYG Studio "Wizonson Secures Exclusive Domestic Distribution Rights for 'Bolshoi Ballet'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] WizOnSen, the performance content subsidiary of comprehensive media content producer WYSIWYG Studio (WYSIWYG), announced on the 5th that it has signed an exclusive distribution contract for the latest season of Bolshoi Ballet with the French major cinema group Path?, marking the first such agreement in Korea.

Path? is the global exclusive distributor of Bolshoi Ballet and a leading cinema group representing France. Through this contract, a total of five classic ballet masterpieces including Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Spartacus will be presented as "event cinema" in domestic theaters from the second half of this year through the first half of next year.

"Event cinema" refers to screening event-based content such as musicals, operas, symphonies, and dance performances on the big screen. With the paradigm of leisure activities shifting towards community and digital-centered experiences due to the COVID-19 pandemic, high-quality event content with easy accessibility is expected to continue gaining attention.

A WizOnSen official stated, "We have built networks not only in Korea but also with renowned performance production and distribution companies in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, ensuring smooth content acquisition for our performance-specialized platform," adding, "We plan to conduct a beta service in September and launch the platform in the second half of this year."

He continued, "We are also preparing top-level domestic musical production and distribution as well as global original musical productions," and added, "In the future, WYSIWYG, our parent company, will leverage its diverse original content such as dramas and films to develop performance content, playing a significant role in the trend media business sector."

WizOnSen is a subsidiary spun off from WYSIWYG’s Media Business Division’s performance content production team at the end of last year. In addition to offline performance content production and distribution, it plans to launch a specialized online platform for performance content in the second half of this year.

Major works include the production and distribution of Russian musicals Monte Cristo (2019) and Anna Karenina (2018), as well as the distribution of the domestic original musical Swag Age: Ocheo Joseon (2021). The company also plans to take the lead in securing globally hit performance IPs in the future.