CJ E&M kicks off in Thailand

Seoul, Korea – CJ E&M has announced that it plans to invest in a Thai film, titled Cha-Lui: Touching the Sky, through its partnership with Transformation Films, Thailand’s major film production company.

Transformation Films is co-established by Thailand’s No.1 theatre company Major, top telecommunications corporation True and major production studios Bangkok Film Studio and Matching Studio.

CJ E&M will also take on the role of distributing the movie in such countries as China, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Cha-Lui: Touching the Sky is a musical comedy about two young men, Tong and Pong, who come to Korea to chase after their dreams of becoming K-Pop stars.

The film is directed by Adirek “Uncle” Wattaleela, a veteran in Thailand’s film industry and it features the country’s rising stars Nicky Nachat and Jessi Mekwattana as Tong and Pong respectively, along with Nichkhun, the Thai member of K-pop boyband, 2PM.

Following a press conference jointly held by CJ E&M and Transformation Films in Bangkok on 19 January, Tae-Sung Jeong, head of CJ E&M’s film division, and Sangar Chatchairungruang, CEO of Transformation, also discussed a future opportunity to co-produce the Thai version of Miss Granny.

“Through our latest partnership with Transformation Films, we believe that we have laid the groundwork for expanding our film business in Thailand. This will allow us to not only introduce Korean films to the region, but also to co-produce films with Thai companies. With our strong distribution network and a series of co-production projects lined up in other Asian countries, CJ E&M plans to carry out pan-Asian expansion to be No.1 studio in Asia,” said Jeong.