Disney and HYBE have forged a new partnership, and their first order of business is producing a series of projects featuring the members of BTS.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, HYBE — the South Korean entertainment company in charge of BTS’ record label, Big Hit — has signed on to create five titles with the Mouse House for Disney+, including three exclusive projects featuring BTS or some of its members. The first is BTS: Permission to Dance on Stage — LA, a concert film immortalizing the group’s November 2021 performance at Los Angeles’ Sofi Stadium, which marked their first in-person live event since 2019.
The second project, In the Soup: Friendcation, is a travel reality show that sees BTS’ V, Itaewon Class’ Seo-jun Park, Parasite star Woo-shik Choi, Hyung-sik Park, and Peakboy embarking on a surprise vacation. According to THR, the show will see the the all-star cast “enjoying a variety of leisure and fun activities.”
Perhaps most exciting is BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star, an “original docu-series” on the boy band, according to Disney. “With unprecedented access to a vast library of music and footage over the past nine years, the series will feature the daily lives, thoughts and plans of BTS members, as they prepare for their second chapter,” the company said. The docu-series is set to hit Disney+ in 2023.
“This collaboration represents our creative ambition — to work with iconic content creators and top stars in Asia Pacific so their talent can be enjoyed by mainstream audiences in multiple ways,” said Disney’s APAC Head of Content Jessica Kam-Engle. “We believe these new titles will captivate consumers worldwide and look forward to introducing more music content on our service.” (Disney+ has made a concerted effort to tap into the South Korean market since launching there in November ’21; their plan includes over 20 Korean titles to be released this year.)
Meanwhile, HYBE CEO Park Ji-won noted, “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 artists.”
News of all this BTS content comes after the group announced an extended hiatus, which fans quickly conflated with a breakup. Though the band assured fans they weren’t disbanding, but simply taking time to pursue solo projects, the announcement caused HYBE’s stock price to drop 28%. Perhaps this new partnership with Disney+ will cause a course correction.
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