Korea’s Kakao Entertainment Teams With Japan’s Babel Label, ‘Journalist’ Director Fujii

Korean entertainment company Kakao Entertainment is expanding its global footprint through a new partnership with Japanese content studio Babel Label. The alliance aims to co-produce new dramatic content and adapt Kakao’s IP library for international audiences.

The first collaboration under this partnership will be helmed by Babel Label’s director Fujii Michihito, marking his first project with a Korean company. Fujii won six awards at the 43rd Japan Academy Film Prize for “The Journalist” (2019), which starred Korean actor Shim Eun-kyung and later became a Netflix series distributed in 190 countries. His film “Faceless” (2024) won 13 awards across 12 categories at the 48th Japan Academy Film Prize.

The Japanese director’s work ialso ncludes “The Last 10 Years” (2022), which generated approximately $20.4 million in Japanese box office revenue while attracting 560,000 viewers in Korea. His Japan-Taiwan co-production “18×2 Beyond Youthful Days” (2024) drew 2.8 million viewers across Asia with box office receipts of approximately $19.3 million.

Fujii, who previously directed Japanese remakes of the Korean thriller “A Hard Day” and romance drama “Nevertheless,” said: “Babel Label clinched a partnership with Kakao Entertainment based on the firm belief that together, we can reach broader seas and scale higher mountains. We will take a leap forward as a global studio and strive for the growth of Korea and Japan’s media industries.”

Founded in 2010 with Fujii, Babel Label has developed genre-crossing content through its writers and directors.

Jang Se-jung, Content CIC CEO at Kakao Entertainment, said: “Thanks to the global popularity of K-content, the world’s content industry is now paying significant attention to the impressive production abilities of K-dramas and K-films, the actors, and the limitless story IPs, such as web novels and webtoons. Based on our partnership with Babel Label, we will present a variety of well-crafted works with synergy to strengthen our global studio competitiveness and further widen K-content’s scope worldwide.”

The collaboration represents another step in Kakao Entertainment’s content strategy as the company continues to leverage its multi-studio system encompassing production houses and talent agencies. The Korean company’s slate for 2025 includes adaptations of its popular webtoons and web novels, such as the upcoming MBC drama “Crushology,” Netflix’s “Karma,” and Watcha’s “Secret Relationship.”

Kakao’s projects in development also include the Netflix series “When Life Gives You Tangerines,” starring IU and Park Bo-gum, and Disney+’s “Nine Puzzles” with Kim Da-mi and Son Suk-ku. The Lee Byung-hun starrer “The Match” is set for theatrical release in Korea on March 26.