#Showbiz: Disney, HYBE team up to showcase BTS and more

KUALA LUMPUR: The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific and HYBE have teamed up to showcase creative excellence from South Korea's entertainment industry.

Their agreement includes the global distribution of five major content titles from HYBE, which include two exclusive series featuring K-Pop icons BTS that will launch on Disney's streaming services.

In a statement today, Disney's Asia Pacific head of content Jessica Kam-Engle said: "We are thrilled to collaborate with HYBE to showcase original content created on our global streaming services including Disney+ Hotstar.

"This collaboration represents our creative ambition — to work with iconic content creators in the Asia Pacific so that talents from the region can be enjoyed by mainstream audiences in multiple ways."

HYBE chief executive officer Park Ji-Won said: "This will be the start of a long-term collaboration, where we present worldwide audiences a wide range of HYBE content for fans who love our music and artistes."

HYBE's projects coming to Disney's streaming services include BTS: Permission To Dance On Stage – LA, an exclusive concert film about BTS' live performance in Los Angeles' Sofi Stadium in November 2021.

Performing Billboard hit songs Butter and Permission To Dance, this was the first time in two years since the pandemic that the band met fans in person.

There is also In The Soop: Friendcation, an original travel reality show with a star-studded cast including V of BTS, Itaewon Class' Seo-Jun Park, Parasite star Woo-Shik Choi, Hyung-Sik Park, and Peakboy.

The programme has them venturing on a surprise trip and enjoying a variety of leisure and fun activities.

Last but not least, there is BTS Monuments: Beyond The Star, an original documentary series that follows the band's journey.

With unprecedented access to a vast library of music and footage over the past nine years, the series features the daily lives, thoughts and plans of BTS members, as they prepare for their second chapter.

The collaboration will allow Disney to introduce a series of new titles from HYBE over the next few years, as the entertainment platform continues to produce high-quality content based on its music and artistes' intellectual properties.