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Studio Dragon poised to become global production house with sequels, new projects

Dominating creative content business in Korea, Studio Dragon seeks to spearhead growth of South Korea’s soft power

Feb. 10, 2023 - 15:17 By Lee Si-jin

From left: Poster images of "Twenty Five Twenty One," "Little Women" and "The Glory" (Studio Dragon)

Eyeing to become a global studio presenting its content to a wider audience, Studio Dragon, South Korean entertainment powerhouse CJ ENM’s drama production subsidiary, is scheduled to offer a total of 35 drama series this year.

The studio's beloved series, including “The Glory” and “Sweet Home” on Netflix, “Island” on Tving and “Shadow Detective” on Disney+ will make their anticipated return with sequels this year.

Studio Dragon will also premiere “The Big Door Prize,” a 10-episode comedy based on M.P Walsh’s bestselling novel of the same title on Apple TV+. The series, helmed by award-winning producer David West Read of “Schitt’s Creek,” marks the first time a South Korean production house has made an original US drama series for a global audience.

Though the release date of “The Big Door Prize” is yet to be announced, Studio Dragon said that it will be available this year.

The horror drama “Gyeongseong Creature,” thriller series “Celebrity” and romance project “Doona!” are among the 10 shows on the creative content lineup, which will be released on both local and global streaming platforms.

Studio Dragon is widely known for its smash hit series “Juvenile Justice,” “Twenty Five Twenty One” and more.

The local production house recorded its best-ever annual sales of 697.9 billion won ($554.3 million) last year, releasing a total of 32 original series here and around the world. It posted a record-high operating profit of 65.2 billion won ($ 51.7 million), a 24 percent increase from 2022.

“Though we released the same number of projects from a year earlier, fourth quarter sales in 2022 saw a 28.8 percent increase, recording 190.5 billion won. The change was attributed to the increased opportunity to showcase our content via global streaming platforms,” Studio Dragon official said.

Aside from its Netflix releases, the drama studio presented two thriller series, “Shadow Detective” and “Connect” on Disney+. The six-part fantasy series “Island” became the first original Korean series available on Amazon Prime Video, a subscription-based video streaming service run by Amazon.

Meanwhile, “The King of Pigs” and “Yumi’s Cells” caught local viewers’ attention on the domestic streaming service Tving.

“Little Women” and “Under the Queen’s Umbrella” -- among nine other TV series released on Netflix – were among the service’s global top 10 chart of non-English TV shows for multiple weeks, according to Studio Dragon.