South Korean entertainment powerhouse CJ ENM is eyeing a bigger role on the world stage, saying it will invest more than 5 trillion won ($4.5B) in content creation over the next five years. The company behind Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar winner Parasite and Fox’s I Can See Your Voice has already set aside 800B won ($721M) for productions this year, CEO Kang Ho-sung said at a press conference in Seoul today, according to the Yonhap news agency.
“We will become a comprehensive entertainment company through diversifying content creating systems and meeting consumers’ demands on a real-time basis. And we will compete with global platform and media powerhouses,” Kang vowed.
CJ ENM is a major player in Asia and has a presence globally; in 2020, it made a strategic investment in David Ellison’s Skydance Media whose TV division is adapting 2019 Korean fantasy drama Hotel Del Luna as a series. Earlier this month, it partnered with HBO Max to develop a competition series in Latin America.
The corporation works across film, TV, pop music and musicals and owns leading series producer Studio Dragon. CJ’s cable channels include tvN, OCN and Mnet.
The plan going forward is to form more production studios specializing in variety shows, film and animation. Yonhap reported CJ will offer productions to its streaming platform affiliate Tving (which is eyeing 8M paid subscribers by 2023), as well as global players and to enter into further partnerships with content creators in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
A further priority will be placed on K-pop which has exploded in global popularity. Building on experience with audition shows Superstar K and I-Land, CJ plans to produce more competition shows outside of Korea to find new K-pop groups.
CJ’s film library consists of such local hits as Roaring Currents, Extreme Job and Ode To My Father. Its platinum TV catalog includes Crash Landing On You, Mr. Sunshine, Guardian: The Lonely And Great God, Grandpas Over Flowers and I Can See Your Voice.