TBS Holdings invests $150 million in Legendary Entertainment to adapt Japanese IP
The Ninja Warrior maker announced the equity investment as part of its strategy to make Japanese content as globally popular as Korean dramas.
TBS Holdings made a $150 million equity investment in Legendary Entertainment earlier this year. Setoguchi Katsuaki, executive officer at TBS Holdings and president of The Seven, announced the partnership at TIFFCOM during the Tokyo International Film Festival.
TBS partnered with Legendary because of what Setoguchi described as matching needs. TBS wants to create global hits in global markets, while Legendary is keeping a close eye on the potential of Japanese IP, including manga, anime and novels, with a view to adapting them into live action.
Setoguchi said he sees his mission as spreading Japanese content worldwide to a similar extent as Korean content. He stated that instead of working to generate a profit to TBS, he would be working to establish a new genre of J-content.
TBS also highlighted partnerships with South Korea's CJ ENM and Japanese streamer U-Next on new joint venture Studio Monowa. Setoguchi recalled that 20 years ago he saw a gap between the production capabilities of Korean and Japanese studios and had not anticipated the now vast influence of Korean cultural output. He noted that everywhere you go around the world, K-content and K-drama are a part of everybody's everyday lives.
Source: variety.com
