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| ▲ This photo, provided by Naver Webtoon, shows the poster for 'Beauty Newbie.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by Naver Webtoon, shows the cover photo of the Thai version of the webtoon 'My ID Is Gangnam Beauty.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Mar. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korean mega-hit webtoon “My ID Is Gangnam Beauty” is set to be adapted into a Thai television series.
The webtoon, illustrated by Kimaenggi, is expected to be adapted into a 14-episode television series under the title “Beauty Newbie” in Thailand. The series is scheduled to hit the small screens early next year.
This upcoming romance series will star the budding Thai actor Metawin Opas-iamkajourn, also known by his nickname Win, and the red-hot actress Pimchanok Luevisadpaibul, who is also known as Baifern. GMMTV, one of the leading domestic production houses, has participated in the production. South Korean-based portal Naver’s North American subsidiary Wattpad and Webtoon Studio joined as co-producers.
This upcoming series will follow the college life of the main female lead, who has been bullied her entire life due to her appearance undergoing plastic surgery, making her way more splendid and appealing than she had expected.
The original webtoon was serialized from Apr. 2016 to Dec. 2017, drawing more than 1.4 billion global views. It was then adapted into a 2018 mega-hit JTBC television series of the same name, starring Cha Eun-woo and Im Soo-hyang.
Although there have been cases where hit Korean-made television series and films were remade overseas, there has never been a case where the already dramatized original webtoon’s intellectual property was exported and adapted into a local television series. Meanwhile, there has been a surge in the number of Naver webtoons being adapted into visual content not only in Korea but also abroad.
For instance, cartoonist Jo Seok’s webtoon “MOONYOU” was adapted into a Chinese film “Duxing Wechu,” which hit the local theaters last year and touched down in second place at the local box office.
Another Korean-made webtoon “The Right Love Guide” has also been adapted into a short Japanese television series, followed by the webtoon “Money Game” which was adapted into an American version of a web variety show. The intellectual property of the smash-hit webtoon “Gaus Electronics” was also exported to China and produced as a local television series.
In addition, the Korean-made English webtoon “Lore Olympus” is currently undergoing production as an animated series by the U.S. production house Jim Hanson Company, along with the webtoon “Gremory Land” being adapted into a film produced by the local production studio Bertie Entertainment. Naver’s Wattpad is known to have joined hands with these local production studios as the co-producer.
In addition, the webtoon “Doona!” is gearing up to be made into a Chinese animated film while another Korean webtoon “Play, Pli” is set to be produced into the Japanese streaming platform Hulu’s original series.
“There has been a noticeable surge in the number of inquiries for video contracts from all across the globe, mainly from the U.S., U.K., Japan, Southeast Asia, and China,” an official from Naver Webtoon summarized.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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