Disney has announced an expansion of its 70-year collaboration with the Japanese publishing house, Kodansha, to license exclusive anime titles including “Tokyo Revengers: Christmas Showdown Arc”, which will launch exclusively on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar in January 2023.

Yoshinobu Noma, Kodansha representative director and president, said in a statement: “

The special relationship between Kodansha and Disney stretches back over 70 years, and has seen us bring to life many Disney licensed publications. With today’s announcement, we are thrilled to be able to further diversify and elevate the relationship between our two companies and share even more of our beloved anime titles with the world on Disney+ and its streaming platforms.”

Carol Choi, executive VP of original content strategy, The Walt Disney Company APAC, added:

“We are thrilled to deepen our strategic collaboration with our long standing partner Kodansha on such an exciting genre. Japanese anime fills the white space in our content development plans and we believe this expanded collaboration will be a game changer in Disney’s future animation strategy in Japan. We look forward to bringing the anime titles and prized IP by Kodansha to the world stage.”

The announcement was part of a larger APAC Content Showcase, being held at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands convention center, where a number of new exclusive Disney+ Originals were revealed.

Luke Kang, president, The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific said:

“Last October, at our first APAC Content Showcase, we made our first step into local content production with an ambitious, long-term plan to uncover the world’s best stories from this region, and to showcase creative excellence that can shine on the world stage.  This year, it was important for us to showcase the breadth of our global branded content from our award-winning studios and iconic franchises, as well as our APAC content slate for 2023.”

“We are focusing our content development on what we refer to as our content white space. Investing in areas that require more local specificity – either due to high popularity in select markets, like Japanese Anime, K-Dramas or Indonesia rom-coms and horror, or the need for local storytelling with talent that are familiar to our local audiences. We want to serve our viewers in every market with globally branded content like Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar, as well as locally produced stories that resonate with them – while also taking the best of those stories global.”

With Disney+ now running in over 154 markets around the world and with over 160 million subscribers, Disney is committed to offering local content,

Source – Variety

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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