HYBE and America’s DC Comics are officially collaborating with South Korea’s online cartoon firm, WEBTOON, to create original content with various artists from the massive HYBE, including K-POP’s sensation BTS.
The announcement was made earlier today at a WEBTOON Press Event and netizens have showed much excitement towards Naver Corporation’s new expansion.
WEBTOON is an online portal to read cartoon which is based in South Korea. This portal is a part of Asia’s internet giant Naver, that is popularly known among netizens for its messaging app, LINE, and search engine functions. One of the most recent popular Webtoons in this app is ‘True Beauty’ that was recently made into a K-Drama starring ASTRO’s Cha Eun Woo, Moon Ga Kyung, and Hwang In Yeop.
With this colossal collaboration, Naver aims to produce web comics and web novels with the help of external IP sourced from international entertainment companies.
“We aim to expand and grow our storytelling content into the core of the entertainment industry through cooperation with global firms.
– Kim Jun Koo, CEO of Webtoon
The CEO of Webtoon further said that the company will shed its focus on digital comics which are being adapted into movies and TV shows by international streaming/ OTT platforms like Netflix. “Sweet Home” is a Netflix K-Drama starring Song Kang, Lee Do Hyun, Lee Si Young, and Go Min Si, was also a webtoon adaptation produced by Studio Dragon.
In other news, Naver also recently pain $600 million to acquire the Toronto-based online story platform, Wattpad. Further, Naver bought a minority stake in HYBE Labels. Wattpad and Webtoon merged to create Wattpad WEBTOON Studio, which is fan-drive and a fully funded international entertainment powerhouse.
What are you thoughts of WEBTOONS that will be created using various artists and groups under HYBE? What kind of content do you expect to see? Do let us know in the comments!
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