Kakao M Corp, the entertainment division of South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp, has entered the film industry by acquiring majority stakes in local production houses Moonlight Film and Sanai Pictures.
Kakao operates Korea’s leading mobile messaging service KakaoTalk, as well as the Daum web portal, streaming platforms for TV, music and webtoons, shopping services and navigation apps.
Moonlight Film and Sanai Pictures, which often collaborate, are known for films such as the recent Ryu Jun-yeol-starrer Money, Yoon Jong-bin’s Cannes thriller The Spy Gone North, Kim Sung-soo’s cult favourite Asura: The City Of Madness and hit crime comedy A Violent Prosecutor, starring Hwang Jung-min and Gang Dong-won.
Kakao M stated it expects these acquisitions to “expand its business horizons” to film production from making TV drama and digital shorts series.
Kakao M’s drama series include mystery thriller Children Of Nobody, which aired on major local terrestrial broadcaster MBC. It is also currently adapting popular webtoons such as Dead Man Letter from the Daum Webtoon platform.
These activities are likely to be combined with its talent management acquisitions from earlier this year, including BH Entertainment, which works with Lee Byung-hun (Red 2) and Kim Go-eun (Eungyo), and Management Soop, which manages Gong Yoo (Train To Busan
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