One of Dexter Studios’ subsidiaries is looking to strengthen its partnership with a major webtoon production company to boost its competitiveness in the market and secure additional IP.
Visual effects (VFX) and content company Dexter Studios announced on November 29 that its subsidiary Dexter Pictures signed an MOU with The Grimm Entertainment for planning/producing content and developing new business opportunities. It said that Dexter Pictures and The Grimm Entertainment will work together on joint projects to adapt webtoon content into multiple K-drama series.
The two partners plan to work closely on at least three projects, including “Chetamja” (tentative title), which is currently in the production phase. In doing so, both companies are hoping to diversify their content and engage with views across different platforms as part of an OSMU strategy going forward. Chetamja is a spy action period K-drama series inspired by a special forces unit created during the Joseon Dynasty. Its plot features a fresh new take on historical facts in a more modern light, and will offer the audience some realistic depictions of events and interesting storylines every episode.
Pak Tae-jun, CEO of The Grimm Entertainment, said, “As a webtoon artist and CEO of The Grimm Entertainment, it was absolutely important for me to find a partner with outstanding business know-how to adapt and visualize the content we created.” Pak added, “We’ve also been looking for new ways to recreate works that had previously been adapted using our content.” Pak explained, “After much consideration, we decided to develop new content in partnership with one of Dexter Studios’ subsidiaries, which successfully led the movie series Together with the Gods, Ashfall, and the Escape from Mogadishu.”
Donghyun Kim, CEO of Dexter Pictures, said, “The Grimm Entertainment is one of the best content companies in the business that has proven its skills with multiple hits, and it enjoys the absolute support of its readers on a major webtoon platform in Korea. Now that we’ve established a collaborative relationship with one of the strongest partners in the business, we expect both of our companies to start producing some eye-catching content.” Kim continued, “Korean’s taste for audiovisual content is world-class, which is why K-dramas and feature films have had a great run of success all over the world. Through this latest joint initiative between The Grimm Entertainment and Dexter Pictures, we intend to turn wonderful imagination into an amazing reality, and present the product to the audience.”
Meanwhile, Dexter Pictures has strengthened its capacity as an expert production company by incorporating Dexter’s Content Headquarters, which had previously been under Dexter Studios, into its own company structure during the third quarter of 2022. At the moment, Dexter Pictures is focusing on developing video content such as feature films and K-drama series, and is pushing aggressively to expand into new areas of business. Recently, Dexter Studios, the parent company of Pictures, shared some more good news, saying that it had secured multiple new VFX contracts. On November 9, it signed a contract worth KRW 6 billion with Climax Studio, and another worth KRW 6.2 billion with Story & Pictures Media on November 28, bringing sales in the month of November alone to a total of KRW 12.2 billion. Dexter Studios expects smooth sailing for the time being.
