CJ ENM Celebrates 30 Years by Doubling Down on Its Asian Storytelling Bet

By Pious Jung

As CJ ENM enters its fourth decade, we are once again betting big on Asian storytelling.

Emmy-winning drama “Severance” is produced by CJ-backed Fifth Season.

CJ ENM is the entertainment affiliate of South Korea’s CJ Group. We are a $3.83 billion company that serves as the foundation of much of Korea’s cultural output, from television dramas streamed by millions of viewers worldwide to K-pop concerts packing arenas around the globe to movies dominating the box offices in Asia and the U.S.

In the U.S. we are best-known for hosting KCON, the annual festival of Korean music and culture in Los Angeles; and for producing “Parasite,” the Oscar-winning film by Bong Joon-ho, the first foreign-language film ever to win Best Picture at the 2019 Academy Awards. CJ-backed Fifth Season produces “Severance,” the series that won eight Emmy Awards this month.

CJ produced acclaimed director Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave.”

Having witnessed the ravenous global appetite for Asian storytelling, CJ ENM recently announced the creation of First Light StoryHouse, a new label operating within CJ ENM’s Asian Content Initiative. The venture was conceived and will be overseen CJ Vice Chairwoman Miky Lee, Emmy and Golden Globe-winning producer Janet Yang, former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Dominic Ng, CEO of East West Bank.

First Light StoryHouse will identify and nurture Asian and Asian American stories for scripted television and film, invest in the projects’ development stage and co-produce.

CN ENM’s story began in 1995 when CJ made a $300 million investment in DreamWorks SKG. At the time, it was a risk no other Korean company was willing to take. But for us, it was the beginning of a long-term strategy: to bring Korean and Asian narratives to the global stage. By building partnerships, platforms and intellectual property (IP) from the ground up.

In the U.S., we’ve expanded across film, television, music, producing and distributing IPs and exporting content that resonates across borders. It’s the cultural impact that tells the real story.

CJ ENM has been behind some of the most defining moments in global entertainment over the last several years. “Past Lives,” the 2023 drama co-financed by CJ, won widespread acclaim and industry recognition, including a Best Picture nomination at the 2024 Academy Awards and both the Best Feature and Best Director awards at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards. “No Other Choice,” a black comedy thriller that premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, is another CJ ENM-financed movie.

CJ ENM’s “Bon Appétit, Your Majesty” quickly became the most popular non-English show on Netflix, ranking 1st in the platform’s Global Top 10 Non-English category by its third week of release. The story follows a French-trained chef who is suddenly transported back in time to the royal palace, where she must survive the ruthless royal kitchen and win over an infamously temperamental tyrant. Anchored by Lim Yoon-a of the iconic girl group Girls’ Generation, this series weaves together vibrant Korean cuisine and the hallmarks of the classic Korean romantic comedy.

Fifth Season, in which CJ retains a majority stake, has helped bridge cultures through high-caliber projects like “Severance.” Having earned 27 nominations at this year’s Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series, Writing, Directing, Lead Actor and Lead Actress, we’re proud “Severance” was the most-nominated series of 2025.

Fifth Season is also the studio behind  one of this year’s Netflix hit movies “Nonnas,” a heartwarming, star-studded comedy based on the inspiring true story behind the acclaimed Staten Island restaurant Enoteca Maria whose chefs are a group of local grandmothers; as well as “Tokyo Vice,” the HBO Max drama series based on the memoir of the same name by the American journalist Jake Adelstein who was the first foreigner to work the crime beat for a major Japanese newspaper and became entangled with Tokyo’s underworld during his investigation of the Yakuza in the 1990s – notably, Fifth Season shot the show almost entirely on the ground in Japan, a feat that had not been undertaken for a U.S. production of comparable scale.

We’ve also brought Korean pop culture to U.S. stages. Mnet, CJ ENM’s music channel in Korea, hosts the annual MAMA AWARDS, the world’s No.1 K-POP Awards, recognizing the top K-POP acts. In 2024, we made history by bringing MAMA AWARDS to the United States for the first time, marking the first major K-pop awards ceremony held in America. This milestone demonstrated our commitment to building cultural bridges and connecting global K-pop fans. We have also expanded KCON into the world’s largest K-POP Fan and Artist Festival. The first KCON, which started modestly in 2012 in California with 10,000 attendees, is now held in multiple countries beyond the U.S. KCON LA 2025 drew 125,000 attendees and made its global livestream debut on Prime Video and Twitch. For the first time this year, the Los Angeles City Council designated August 1 as KCON Day in Los Angeles, recognizing its economic, cultural and social contribution to the city.

These milestones aren’t anomalies. They’re part of a strategic and sustained expansion. CJ ENM has built a reputation for not just identifying global trends, but by shaping them.

CJ ENM produces KCON, the annual festival of Korean music and culture in Los Angeles.

As we look to 2025 and beyond, we’re taking bold steps to expand our global music business. CJ ENM has formed a new joint venture with Japan’s leading integrated marketing and innovation company Hakuhodo Inc., a move that signals our long-term strategy to spearhead the global reach of K-POP and Asian music content through cross-market innovation. From launching new artist discovery platforms to producing global content to expanding global content to expanding Mnet’s global reach, we are building the next wave of global music experiences.

To realize this vision, we will expand direct production and local planning in key markets, such as the U.S. and Japan, leveraging hit K-content IPs. We are also targeting new regions, including the Middle East and China, while focusing on the rising demand for short-form content. At the same time, we are incorporating AI to transform the content creation process and extending our global reach through platforms such as the over-the top service TVING and the K-pop fandom platform Mnet Plus.

CJ ENM’s story has always been one of ambition, evolution and creative conviction. For 30 years, we’ve bet on content that crosses borders not just geographically, but also culturally. Today, we stand more committed than ever to grow into a world-class global content studio that leads innovation and storytelling on an international scale.

Pious Jung is CEO of CJ America and President of Content, Global Business for CJ ENM.

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