“Disney's Century-Long Plan Centers on Asia-Pacific Stories”

"Strengthening Investment in Fields Highlighting Regional Specificity"

“The central axis preparing Disney's centennial plan is the stories from the Asia-Pacific region.” This is the future vision revealed by Luke Kang, President of Walt Disney Company Asia-Pacific. At the ‘Disney Content Showcase Asia-Pacific 2022’ held on the 30th (local time) at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, he defined the Asia-Pacific stories as a ‘White space’ and expressed his intention to focus on local storytelling.

The initiative is already underway. This year, through its streaming service Disney+, the company introduced forty-five pieces of Asia-Pacific content. Streaming hours related to this content increased more than eightfold compared to last year. Kang said, “Streaming services like Disney+ are showing continuous growth in the Asia-Pacific region,” adding, “A positive future is expected.”

The greatest driving force behind this progress is Korean content. In particular, the drama ‘Big Mouth’, ‘Soundtrack #1’, and the variety show ‘In the Soop: Friendship Trip’ ranked among the top three most-watched contents in the Asia-Pacific region during their first week of release. Kang stated, “Korean dramas have high artistic quality,” and added, “We want to strengthen investments in areas that highlight regional uniqueness and focus on local storytelling.”

As a newly emerging driving force, Japanese animation was cited. This is based on a strong collaboration with Kodansha (講談社), a Japanese publishing company founded in 1909 by Seiji Noma. Its representative works include ‘GTO’, ‘Attack on Titan’, ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’, ‘Tokyo Revengers’, and ‘The Fighting’.

Kang said, “Anime based on Kodansha manga is nothing less than a ‘game changer’ that will transform the landscape in this field,” and confidently added, “‘Tokyo Revengers’, which will be exclusively released on Disney+ in January next year, will be the starting point.”