Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar announced that they are expanding into a lot more Asian content on their platforms—including over 20 new Asian Pacific (APAC) content titles from Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia and Malaysia—among others. From the look of it, it looks like Disney’s streaming platforms are trying to compete with Netflix’s successful Asian content.
Netflix recently had a worldwide hit with Squid Game, a South Korean drama about contestants competing in children’s games for a tempting prize. It’s such a phenomenon that it’s likely that Halloween costumes would be mostly Squid Game-themed. So, it makes sense that Disney also wants a piece of that action.
“… We are making another commitment by combining the global resources of the company with the best content creators from Asia Pacific to develop and produce original stories on Disney+. With over-the-top services going mainstream, emergence of world-class content from Asia Pacific and rising consumer sophistication, we believe that this is the right time for us to deepen our collaboration with the region’s best content creators to deliver unparalleled storytelling to global audiences,” said Luke Kang, President of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific.
Malaysia subscribers would be able to watch an “extensive slate of APAC content” coming to Disney+ Hotstar over the next year—including Season 3 of Malaysian animated series Ejen Ali. But the highlights of the upcoming content include a wide variety of South Korean and Japanese titles.
For South Korean content coming up, Blinks will be able to watch BLACKPINK: The Movie exclusively on Disney+ and in theatres. The title is a documentary on the chart-topping Korean pop group, in commemoration of their fifth year anniversary. Another highlight is Snowdrop—a romantic melodrama series starring top Korean actor Jung Hae-in and BLACKPINK’s Jisoo.
For Japanese content, Disney announced a planned anime adaptation of Twisted Wonderland—Disney own mobile game by Aniplex. They also announced Summer Time Rendering, an anime based on a “top manga titles” with a cumulative total of over 130 million page views on the Japanese web manga app Shonen Jump +.
Other highlighted content include Susah Sinyal (or Bad Signal)—an Indonesian comedic drama series about a group of hotel employees managing a classy resort hotel in West Java, Small & Mighty—a Taiwanese drama about self-discovery, and Delicacies Destiny—a Chinese period drama into food rom-com. These new projects unveiled are part of Disney’s aim to “greenlight over 50 APAC Originals by 2023”.
Disney+ is currently available in a wide list of countries, including Malaysia under Disney+ Hotstar. It costs RM54.90 for a quarterly subscription. The platform also announces that they have upcoming launches in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan in November 2021.
