Taiwan's Catchplay Targets High-End Micro Dramas From Korea
Also: K2 Pictures Cannes Slates, Park Chan-wook's 'Rattlecreek' and Mother Bhumi's' Censored Release.
Catchplay Celebrates Anniversary, Pulls on Premium Shorts
Taiwan’s Catchplay is making a move into premium micro dramas as part of a wave of expansion moves that it announced for its tenth anniversary.
For the premium micro drama foray, Catchplay’s production arm, Screenworks Asia, has partnered with Korea’s SLL Joongang to co-develop a slate of, Mandarin-language vertical series.
They will focus on vertical urban fantasy dramas, combining Taiwan’s strengths in emotional storytelling with Korea’s expertise in genre pacing, visual aesthetics, and commercial production. Taiwanese screenwriter Lu Shih-Yuan is attached as script consultant, while Catchplay Group CEO Daphne Yang, Screenworks Asia GM Chen Shao-Yi and DaMou Entertainment CEO Jayde Lin will serve as co-executive producers, alongside SLL producers and creative executives from Korea. SLL will also collaborate on casting and creative direction, including the potential participation of Korean actors across selected titles.
“We see strong potential in premium vertical content and are thrilled that many of our partners, especially our allies at SLL, share this vision. Together, we hope to offer a lighter, sharper, and faster-paced alternative to traditional long-form dramas while delivering a significantly higher standard of storytelling than typical micro-dramas”, said Yang.
Other expansionary moves include the launch of a branded zone arrangement spanning Taiwan, Indonesia, and Singapore. This includes an arrangement with newly launched Korean vertical content platform, Sero, and licensing deals with CJ ENM and b.able to deliver hundreds of hours of vertical K-drama content.
On the distribution front, Catchplay has struck partnerships with two of Taiwan’s leading pay-TV and broadband operators, Home+ and TBC. Additionally, a regional partnership with Xperi will bring Catchplay+ into the automotive space across Taiwan, Indonesia and Singapore, integrating the service into high-end car models via the DTS AutoStage entertainment platform.
“Catchplay is marking its milestone anniversary by transitioning from its roots as a premium platform for film buffs into a versatile, mass-market destination spanning movies, traditional series, live TV, and cutting-edge vertical formats,” the company said in a statement.
Japan’s K2 Pictures Uses $30 Million Fund for Busy Film Slate
New-fangled Japanese film production company K2 Pictures had a busy Cannes, unveiling a slate of new titles, its first foreign project and the closure of its $33 million film fund.
The K2P Film Fund I, closed in February having raised finance from financial institutions including Mitsubishi UFJ Bank and the Development Bank of Japan. The fund managers said that three films have already been completed using its capital (one of which was released in theatres in February). Three more are currently in post-production and five are scheduled for release between June and December 2026. Additionally, five films are scheduled to begin production within 2026. This indicates that “a sustainable production and release system has been established”, the company said. The fund was launched with the intention of allowing the new company to break free of the ‘production committee’ system that has long dominated Japanese filmmaking and is risk-averse, slow and largely excludes foreign participation.
K2 chief Kii Muneyuki has said that the company intends to complement the capital of the fund with a further $70 million of debt finance.
K2’s new lineup includes Miike Takashi’s first documentary feature “Shumei - The Living Legacy of Kabuki”.
Miike turns his camera on the highly personal yet public moment when an actor inherits a stage name in Japan’s traditional performing art. Miike portrays the conflict between inheritance and individuality, the name succession ceremony, and the debut performance of the newly -named Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII. The film is set for commercial release in September. K2 used the occasion to unveil a trailer.
K2 teased “The Nuke Crab”, a film that will be planned, produced, and co-written by Shunji Iwai and directed by Nagata Koto. The film is adapted from a novel by a former company executive who became a nuclear decontamination worker. “When I first read the original novel, I was deeply shocked and, to be honest, frightened. After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, an enormous amount of money moved through the decontamination business, exposing human greed and desire in a very vivid way. Because of this, I initially felt that this story was far too difficult for me to confront,” said Nagata, who (obviously) had a change of heart.
Other new titles are:
“Hold”, which marks the directorial debut of actor Fujitani Ayako and is a romantic drama involving a Japanese mana and a foreign woman;
“UFO Club”, a project recently presented at the Udine festival’s project market to be directed by Kaneko Milena;
“NAP”, an experimental film about eating disorders by live theatre star Kato Takuya, and structured as a co-production involving artners in France and Iceland;
“Mexican Horror”, a horror film by director Katayama Shinzo that is currently in development with Miércoles Entertainment (U.S.) and The Lift (Mexico);
“Konde Coma”, a period, epic action blockbuster that delves into the grand history of Jiu-Jitsu, which transcended borders, and the mystery surrounding Maeda Mitsuyo, the man who spread its popularity at the beginning of the 20th century. The film is directed by Otomo Keishi ( “Rurouni Kenshin”, Netflix’s 10DANCE”) and is set up as a co-production between Japan, Brazil, and the US;
And “My Teacher” a film that is currently in development as a collaboration between director No Deok—who wrote and directed the 2013 Shanghai International Film Festival Best Asian Newcomer Award-winning film “Very Ordinary Couple” and directed the Netflix series Glitch—and screenwriter Junya Ikegami (“The Blood of Wolves” and Netflix series “The Queen of Villains”).
Separately, K2 announced that it has boarded Brazilian director Karim Ainouz’s English-language debut film “Neon River”.
It is based on the novel Favela High-Tech by Marco Lacerda, in which a young woman, the daughter of a Japanese father and Brazilian mother, goes to Japan and has various romantic relationships. The screenplay is by Tainá Muhringer Tokitaka and Aïnouz in collaboration with Inés Bortagaray.
The film, which is expected to shoot in 2027, is produced by Brazil’s Gullane K2 Pictures, Maneki Films in France, Inflamável in Germany. Buena Vista International (Brazil) is also on board.
It also revealed 16 October as the release date for Nishikawa Miwa’s “Children Untold”. The film is set in postwar Japan and sees a 12 year-old renounce her identity as a girl in order to survive.
‘Mother Bhumi’ Makes (Censored) Debut in Malaysia
Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing was in Malaysia this month ahead of the 14 May commercial release of the drama film “Mother Bhumi”. She toured five states and was granted an audience with the current king on 12 May.
Directed by Kedah, Malaysia-based Chong Keat Aun, the film is a co-production that involves companies from Malaysia, Taiwan, Italy and Hong Kong and finance from Saudi Arabia.
At the end of April, Chong said he welcomed the film’s release (through distributor Mega Films), but noted that it would be cut by censors prior to arriving in Malaysia’s cinemas.
The country has a pitiful record of censoring local films – even those which have played at major international festivals and earned significant prizes, such as “Mother Bhumi” and “Tiger Stripes” – as well as those imported from abroad.
The original version of Chong’s film depicted social unrest caused by the after-effects of the British colonial period, shamanism and black magic, and the government-supported reclaiming by native Malays of land occupied by ethnic Chinese and Thai citizens.
Park Chan-wook’s ‘Rattlecreek’ Sold to New Warner Offshoot
Clockwork, the recently-launched distribution label under Warner Bros., has picked up North American rights to “The Brigands of Rattlecreek”, the upcoming film from Korean director Park Chan-wook.
The English-language Western is expected to star Matthew McConaughey, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal and Chinese actress Tang Wei. Production starts in the first quarter of 2027.
Patrick Wachsberger’s Legendary label 193 is handling international sales. WME Independent and CAA Media Finance handled the North America deal, which has been reported as being in the “high mid-teen” millions of dollars.
Park is this week in Cannes as head of the main competition jury and at the weekend received the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters award from the French government.
‘Headless’ Topped Off
Production has wrapped on the Australian action-horror feature “Headless”, a contemporary reimagining of the Headless Horseman mythology.
Directed by acclaimed filmmaking duo The Spierig Brothers (“Daybreakers”) and produced by Chris Brown (“Beast of War”) and Diana Le Dean (“Sting”), and is co-written by Queensland-based writer Shayne Armstrong, Shane Krause (“The Contents”) and Noel O’Riordan (“Somebody’s Daughter”). The production also includes Damian Lang as associate producer.
Starring Australia’s Mel Jarnson (“Mortal Kombat”, “Killer Whale”) and Ryan Corr (“n Limbo”, “Packed to the Rafter”s, “Underbelly”), “Headless” follows a rudderless hitchhiker and a driven woman seeking vengeance for her family’s murder as they attempt to stop a motorcycle-riding, semi-immortal ghoul that feeds off carnage on remote desert highways.
Filmed on Gold Coast, the project showcases Queensland’s end-to-end production capability, from development and filming through to post, digital and visual effects, engaging businesses including Formation Effects and The Post Lounge.
It was supported through Screen Queensland’s Screen Finance and Development funds and by the state’s Post, Digital and Visual Effects (PDV) incentive. “Headless” is expected to inject approximately A$8.3 million ($5.9 million) into the Queensland economy while employing 125 local cast, crew and creatives.”
