Webtoon Entertainment Inc. recently announced a partnership with The Walt Disney Co. and a new slate of programming for its 155 million monthly active users.
The Koreatown entertainment company is teaming up with the Burbank-based studio to adapt about 100 comics from Disney, Marvel, 20th Century Studios and Star Wars to its mobile vertical-scroll format.
The financial terms of the Disney deal were not disclosed. The first Disney webcomic to debut on the Webtoon platform was “The Amazing Spider-Man,” to be followed by “Marvel’s Avengers,” “Star Wars” and “Alien.”
“The Disney, Marvel, 20th Century, and Star Wars brands are among the most legendary, creative, and successful in the industry,” said Yongsoo Kim, chief strategy officer and head of global at Webtoon. “We’re thrilled to kick off this collaboration with iconic series from their comic book catalog.”
Other initiatives
Alongside the Disney deal, Webtoon will launch a short-form video initiative, which the company says will take the platform’s experience from reading to watching.”
The platform will debut a selection of 14 English-language original series that will each have 20 5-minute video episodes available to users for free. The new videos will roll out through the remainder of the year, Kim added..
“Innovating to create new storytelling formats and experiences is part of our DNA at Webtoon,” he said. “We know there’s a massive appetite for short-form video among Gen Z.”
