Merged Webtoon and Film Companies Seek to Capitalize on IP and Explore Metaverse

Waiting for Rain (2021) 

KidariStudio and KIDARI ENT have merged and officially launched a content production company. The merged outfit will seek to exploit its extensive IP webtoon and film library to produce content that can be scaled out in franchises and/or adapted to different markets in local languages. The company is also looking to explore transmedia formats, including the metaverse.

Primarily known for webtoons and e-books, KidariStudio has spent the last two years growing its IP portfolio through the acquisition of other content entities. It has included the purchase of Lezhin Entertainment, a top Korean webtoon company responsible for the original webtoon of Netflix’s D.P., in 2020, and the acquisition of a stake in the French company Delitoon SAS.

Existing in various forms since 2007, KIDARI ENT launched into film production with the hit romcom My Love, My Bride (2014) a remake of director Lee Myungse’s earlier 1990 film of the same name. It has gone on to produce and/or distribute films such as Monstrum (2018), Believer (2018), Steel Rain2: Summit (2020), and last year’s Waiting for Rain.

As KidariStudio, the company will continue its film business, starting with the upcoming crime drama Hot Blooded. Other upcoming projects that Kidari will distribute include the sports drama One Win with Song Kangho and the action-thriller Decibel and a range of drama projects based on webtoons, including one which will be produced as content for the metaverse.

Now armed with an IP library counting over 2,000 titles, the reformed Kidari will endeavor to maximize its competitiveness in the contents market with unique properties.