Walt Disney is set to start animation production in Japan by tapping into the country’s renowned technology and artists for the first time as the US entertainment behemoth moves to localise its content in Asia.
The move underlines the growing importance of the rapidly expanding Asian market and marks a departure from Disney’s traditional approach of producing its films and television shows in the US first and releasing them globally.
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Faced with increasing competition from Japan’s home-grown anime and manga industry, Walt Disney Japan is teaming up with local animation houses to produce Japan-specific television content. Japan is Disney’s second-biggest market after the US.
Disney is set to launch a Japanese version of the “Lilo and Stitch” television series in October, along with Madhouse, a Japanese animation studio. The movie was a tremendous hit in Japan, and many young (and not so young) Japanese men and women adorn their mobile phones and purses with plush likenesses of Stitch, the small blue alien from the movie. The Japanese version of the series will feature a Japanese girl named “Hanako” and will be set in Okinawa, instead of Hawaii.
Disney is also teaming up with Toei Animation to produce an original adventure animation series that features robots and which will be on the air later this year. Toei Animation said on Thursday that it would try and tap into Disney’s distribution channels in the US to help popularise its own TV shows and movies in the North American market.
Though the main market for the new programmes is Japan, Disney is considering exporting the shows to other Asian countries.
Disney has built an incredibly successful franchise in Japan, where millions of visitors make the trek to Disneyland and DisneySea, its adult theme-park counterpart. The number of visitors to the two parks – 68 per cent of whom are adults over the age of 18 – has been relatively stagnant for the past few years, however. The company is focusing on strengthening its content in the Japanese market, particularly its digital content.
Earlier this month, Disney launched a mobile phone service in partnership with Softbank. The company is selling handset models adorned with Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters, which are made by Sharp.
Japan’s much-acclaimed animation industry is facing severe competition from lower-cost labour in China and South Korea, where workers can churn out drawings at a fraction of the price animators command in Japan.