Spider-Man, Captain America, Darth Vader, Beauty and the Beast, and more from Disney’s intellectual-property treasure chest are coming to Webtoon — with about 100 titles from the Mouse House set to hit the popular webcomics app over the next several years.
The deal between Webtoon Entertainment and Disney spans webcomics featuring iconic characters from Disney, Marvel, 20th Century Studios and Star Wars. Those will include existing comics and graphic novels from Disney’s catalog reformatted for Webtoon’s vertical-scroll app, in addition to all-new original titles that are currently in development. The Disney webcomics will be available in a dedicated section of the Webtoon English-language app. Globally, Webtoon has around 155 million monthly active users.
Financial terms of the multiyear deal aren’t being disclosed. But in terms of publishing partnerships, the Webtoon pact is “one of the biggest we have ever done,” says Daniel Fink, senior VP, head of digital innovation at Disney Consumer Products.
The first Disney-owned webcomic to debut will be the Amazing Spider-Man later in August. That will be followed by Marvel’s Avengers, Star Wars, Alien and “As Old as Time: A Twisted Tale” (with Belle and the Beast). Webtoon will be promoting the new Disney partnership at New York Comic Con, which runs Oct. 9-12.
In Webtoon’s freemium model, the first few episodes of a webcomic are free to read; to get full access, users must purchase in-app “coins” and redeem them for premium purchases. At press time, pricing of the Disney comics on Webtoon was not available.
The launch of Disney comics on Webtoon comes after the companies had been in talks for about a year. Fink says webcomics readership has grown dramatically in recent years and has attracted “people who are not traditional comics readers.” Webtoon’s base of 80 million-plus monthly active users was appealing to Disney, and Fink sees the deal as bolstering its reach internationally and with Gen Z audiences.
“We have such amazing stories at Disney and Marvel, and we want our stories to reach as many as people as possible,” Fink says.
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Both Disney and Webtoon say none of the webcomics produced under their deal will use AI technology. “It’s all traditional creative,” says Fink. The new webcomics will be produced by Webtoon with Disney’s approval, but the companies aren’t sharing what characters will be in the mix except to say the titles will range “from superhero epics to galaxy-spanning adventures.”
Disney talked to multiple players in the webcomics space and “we saw that Webtoon was the clear leader,” according to Fink. In addition, Webtoon Entertainment is based in L.A. (while its parent company, Naver Corp., is based in South Korea). “Big picture, it was a pretty easy decision,” Fink says.
Disney joined Webtoon’s roster of other content partners, which includes Warner Bros. Discovery’s DC Comics, Discord and K-pop giant HYBE.
For Webtoon’s part, the company saw a huge opportunity to team with Disney, whose brands are “among the most legendary, creative and successful in the industry,” says Yongsoo Kim, chief strategy officer and head of global at Webtoon. “We believe teaming up together is mutually beneficial.”
Webtoon Entertainment’s brands and platforms, in addition to the Webtoon app, includes user-generated fiction app Wattpad, Webtoon Productions, Studio N, Studio LICO, Webtoon Unscrolled, Line Manga and eBookJapan.
In June 2024, Webtoon Entertainment went public with an IPO on the Nasdaq exchange. For 2024, the company reported $1.35 billion in revenue (up 5.1%) and a net loss of $152.9 million (versus a net loss of $144.8 million the year prior). Between 2017 and 2023, the company says, it paid out $2.8 billion to creators, with the top 100 creators earning more than $1 million and overall creators paid an average of $48,000.
From Variety US