French studio Ellipse Animation (The Adventures of Tintin, The Garfield Show, The Smurfs) is turning its 60-plus-years of production experience towards a new realm, announcing the company will be venturing into the local webtoon sector. Originating in South Korea and designed for screens, webtoon comics have become a worldwide phenomenon, while still largely produced in Asia. Ellipse will be basing its webtoon business at its studio in Angoulême, in southwest France, beginning this year.
“Gen Z’s keen interest in webtoons is a planetary phenomenon,” said Ellipse Animation’s Managing Director, Caroline Audebert. “The market is anticipating strong demand by 2030, and Ellipse Animation — within the virtuous ecosystem of the Média-Participations group — wants to invest in this promising field.”
The Média-Participations group, a European leader in publishing, media and entertainment, has already positioned itself on webtoons in several ways:
- Comics outfit Dupuis has been creating webtoons with European and African authors since 2019, under the Webtoon Factory label.
- Éditions Dargaud are currently developing new projects with author and publisher Maëva Poupard (a.k.a. Rutile), who is behind the success Colossale.
- In March 2023, Média-Participations launched its webtoon platform ONO, managed by Ainara Ipas, with a selection of 300 series. ONO’s catalog consists of webtoons developed by Dupuis and Dargaud combined with the best of Asian series through a partnership with Kenaz, the largest independent Korean webtoon studio. The app has been downloaded more than 350,000 times.
The group is now moving into a new phase with the creation of a webtoons production company within Ellipse Studio Angoulême, created to welcome talents, and especially the authors of tomorrow.
Ellipse Animation’s webtoon production in Angoulême is organized around two focal points. For one, the studio offers creative services as an executive producer serving the group’s publishers, ONO and other players in the sector — external publishers, producers, broadcasters, institutions, etc.
“This involves setting up an industrial organization, where the division of is similar to that of animation, making it possible to adapt to the weekly publication required on applications,” said Arnaud Réguillet, Head of Ellipse Studio Angoulême.
The studio will soon commence work on Rutile and animator/illustrator Yllogique’s series Vertu de Saint-Cyr, developed by Dargaud within a collection of four original French series for the ONO platform (ONO Originals) alongside Queen Cendrillon (by Pralinus and Helsenn), Zanni (Pralinus and Léa Rey-Mauzaize) and Magica Britannica (B. Rylia and Rann).
In the mean time, Ellipse Animation is also looking to create original webtoons, both supported by creative talents from the very broad Angoulême studio ecosystem and by adapting animated films and series from its catalog to this format.
The studio asserts that establishing a French webtoon sector in Angoulême will enable the development of new skills in France and sustainable jobs in the region, while supporting the natural hybridization of all the professions in the picture industry.
“This new activity will allow us both to retain talents and to attract new ones. Webtoons are also major strategic assets for creating tomorrow’s transmedia IPs. The idea is to develop original titles with a global reach and adapt them in several formats, including animation, thanks to the different entities in the group,” explained Audebert.
“The organization and professionalization of the sector also involves the training of artists, technicians and producers. It is the next step on which we are currently working hand in hand with the teams from ONO.”
At the Angoulême Comic Book Festival (BD Angoulême; January 25-28; bdangouleme.com), Maëva Poupard, Ainara Ipas and Arnaud Reguillet will participate in a round table entitled “Rethinking the French webtoon, from production to adaptation.” The session will be held Friday, January 26 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Espace Nouvelle Création, Amphithéâtre de l’ENJMIN on rue de Bordeaux. Entry is free with festival accreditation.
