Disney Unveils Over 20 Series and Films in Asian Local-Language Streaming Push

The Walt Disney Company unveiled twenty-seven new titles in Asia on Thursday as it expands the footprint of its Disney Plus and Disney Plus Hotstar streaming services in the world’s most populous region.

The streaming service is currently available in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, with upcoming launches in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan in November 2021.

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“We aim to create fifty original series and shows by 2023,” said Luke Kang, Walt Disney’s Asia-Pacific president. “OTT is quickly going mainstream and Disney Plus is well positioned to take part in that.”

Kang was speaking in a studio component of a pan-Asia content presentation that operated as a live event in Tokyo, a hybrid presentation in Indonesia and Korea and was wholly online in other areas.

“This is by far Disney’s most ambitious production effort in Asia,” said Jessica Kam-Engle, Disney’s head of content and development in Asia-Pacific.

From South Korea, the line-up includes:

• documentary “Blackpink: the Movie,” which will be given both theatrical and online premieres.

• action hero thriller series “Moving,” a tent-pole show from Korea based on the webtoon by Kang Full about three teenagers discovering their unusual powers.

• “Snowdrop,” a romantic melodrama series starring top Korean actor Jung Hae-in and Blackpink’s Jisoo.

• “Rookies,” a coming-of-age romantic series set in Korea’s elite police academy, is K-pop idol Kang Daniel’s debut drama.

• Mystery thriller “Grid,” about a government official and a detective, written by Lee Su-yeon (“Stranger”) and directed by Lee Khan.

• “Kiss Sixth Sense,” a romance fantasy adapted from a webtoon of the same title about a woman who has seen her own future and that of her despised boss.

• Variety show “Outrun by Running Man,” a spin-off from SBS’s long-running variety show, “Running Man.”

From Japan, the slate includes:

• “Tokyo MER” (Mobile Emergency Room), a special TBS collaboration, a medical drama starring award-winning actors Ryohei Suzuki and Kento Kaku.

• “Black Rock Shooter Dawn Fall,” a Japanese reboot animation of ”Black Rock Shooter,” a popular character with global fans that has spawned music, action figures, games and animation. Directed by Tensho and written by Makoto Fukami.

• “Summer Time Rendering,” a Japanese animation based on a top manga title with a cumulative total of over 130 million page views on the Japanese web manga app Shonen Jump Plus.

• “Yojohan Time Machine Blues,” a new Japanese animated series and the sequel to “The Time Tatami Gallery,” by award-winning writer Tomihiko Morimi and production company Science Saru.

• “Twisted Wonderland,” a planned anime adaptation of “Twisted

• Wonderland”, Disney’s highly popular mobile game by Aniplex.

• Drama series “Lost Man Found” adapted from a novel about an actor struggling to find fame and the love of his life.

• Horror series, “Gannibal,” about a village cop investigating rumors of cannibalism.

From Indonesia, where Disney Plus Hotstar launched just over a year ago, slate additions include:

• comedy drama series “Bad Signal” (aka “Susah Sinyal”) adapted from the hit movie of the same title.

• fantasy series “Tira,” the first series to emerge from the Bumilangit fantasy universe, produced by Screenplay Bumilangit, under the creative vision of award-winning director Joko Anwar. (Separately, SK Global has a deal to produce feature movies from the Bumilangit repertoire.)

• Drama series “Virgin The Series,” a Starvision spinoff from the 2004 movie of the same name, directed by Monty Tiwa.

• “Wedding Agreement The Series,” a drama series from Starvision that is was previously adapted as a film of the book with the same title. Written by Archie Hekagary.

• Drama series, “Jurnal Risa,” an adventure drama from MD Pictures that is a pre-quel to “I Can See Ghost,” created by Risa Saraswati and directed by Awi Suryadi.

• Horror drama series, “Teluh Darah,” directed by Kimo Stamboel and produced by Rapi Films.

• Drama series, “Keluarga Cemara The Series,” produced by Visinema as a spin-off from a 1996 series.

From Taiwan:

• Light-hearted legal drama series “Small & Mighty” featuring Chen Bo-Lin and Puff Kuo, and directed by Xu Fu-xiang. Co-presented with Bilibili and produced by Jason’s Entertainment .

• Gwei Lun-mei-starring drama series “Women in Taipei,” as a spin-off from the “Women in Tokyo” series.

From mainland China:

• “Delicacies Destiny,” a period drama by written by veteran producer Yu Zheng (“Story of Yanxi Palace”), directed by Guo Hao and starring Wang Xingyue and He Ruexia.

• “Joy Of Life 2,” a romantic period series that is a prequel to the “Joy Of Life” hit series and is written by Wang Juan. Production is by New Classics Media.

• “Min’s Family,” a drama series about divorce at different stages of life, starring Zhou Xun and directed by Wang Jun.

From Australia:

• Previously announced documentary series “Shipwreck Hunters,” charting iconic shipwreck mysteries in Western Australia.

From Malaysia:

• Animation series “Ejen Ali Season 3,” created by Usamah Zaid and produced by Primeworks Studios and Wau Animation.

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