HwaHwa Studio, creators of the increasingly popular animated Korean Meoshi World IP, announced it has retained publishing industry veteran Jon I. Rosenberg of Jokar Productions to represent the publishing and development rights to the three Meoshi World books for the United States and Latin America. Meoshi World is an extraordinary popular and trending entertainment property that draws on the Asian mythology of ghosts and monsters. Since it was first introduced in Korea in 2019, Meoshi World has become a hot, sought after property in Korea and is creating strong interest around the world, with its characters, KPOP music influence and unique stories.
“Given our initial success with Meoshi World we believe there are significant opportunities to broaden our exposure and consumer following in markets including the United States, Canada and the UK,” says Kyoungrim (Lima) Kim Co-Founder of HwaHwa Studio and Co-Author of the three Meoshi World books. “Korean-created content is making strong inroads globally and Meoshi World speaks to young people in a fun and real way, making it stand out as an exceptional, fast-growing property,” she adds.
Rosenberg is a highly accomplished and creative global business development executive, specializing in originating, and extending existing content-related brands across a range of media and merchandise in the publishing, brand-licensing, and entertainment sectors. His experience spans twenty-five years where he has fostered alliances with leading authors, illustrators, designers, and branded properties, including Disney, Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, MGM, Mattel, Hasbro, and Crayola.
Rosenberg joins an experienced and talented team that includes entertainment industry veteran and executive producer Kevin Gillis of Run with US Productions who started consulting with Meoshi World last year. Gillis is a globally accomplished creative executive and together with Rosenberg provides HwaHwa with partners boasting exceptional credentials and strong relationships.
“We are thrilled to partner with an individual with the experience and reputation of Jon Rosenberg to represent us and successfully introduce the wonderful world of Meoshi World to new audiences across the globe,” Lima points out. “The success that Jon has had with other content-related brands is impressive and we look forward to great success on the book publishing and content front.”
Rosenberg is equally enthusiastic about joining the team stating, “I was immediately attracted to this property given the detailed character development, compelling storylines and the success Lima and Jan have experienced to date,” Rosenberg exclaims. “Beyond representing the three existing books, our partnership includes the creation of new content across a wide range of book formats for all key markets in addition to overall franchise development.”
Meoshi World is about a young girl, Jimin, who moves to Korea from a city in the West, when her grandmother dies, and her mother decides to move back to her original childhood home. It is in her grandmother’s house that Jimin first encounters the ghosts and monsters along with the powerful guardian, celestial cat-being/sometimes gentle kitten, “Meoshin.” She also befriends a ghost “nerd” neighbor boy, Hoon, who is uncannily obsessed with that mysterious world.
“As a young Asian immigrant herself, Lima Kim has built an unconventional world of characters and stories that emanated from her own real-life experiences, wonder, challenges, and feelings. I believe that her characters and adventures resonate with the many young people globally who may feel displaced either geographically, culturally, or emotionally and yearn to just belong in their surroundings. Equally, they are eager to share their stories, feelings, dreams, KPOP music and cultures with their friends,” Gillis adds.
The Meoshi World books introduce hundreds of mythical characters that dwell in Meoshi World and include character explanations and background based on actual Korean historical records. Also featured are full-color illustrated images together with graphics and charts for each character’s attributes, power level and more.
According to Co-Founder and Co-Author Jan Borkowski, “The success of Meoshi World and its three books is not surprising as its creative, innovative storytelling speaks to young people around the world about the very feelings that they are interested in. Authenticity, diverse stories, showing kids another view of the world, and creative risk-taking are central hallmarks of Meoshi World,” Borkowski concludes.