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Korean animation has spent years building its presence at Annecy, the industry’s biggest international market, mostly through individual studios. This year, that changed: Gwangju’s Information and Content Agency (GICON) brought a coordinated five-studio delegation to the festival’s new Korea Business Showcase, each pitching a different original IP to international buyers, broadcasters, and co-production partners. Taken together, the slate is a useful snapshot of where regional Korean animation studios think the next global hit is hiding.
Ghost Delivery — 38°C Animation Studios
The pitch with the sharpest hook: two exorcists, Monkee and Monsu, disguise themselves as food delivery workers to hunt evil spirits threatening the city, blending Korean shamanistic mythology with very modern social texture. “In our modern era, food delivery has become a universal language, yet almost no animated IP has tackled this topic yet,” said 38°C CEO Tae Sik Shin, who also pointed at a bigger ambition behind the show: “The anime market is enormous, yet Korean anime is barely in it.” It’s a 30-episode series at 6 minutes each, aimed at audiences 15 and up, developed with backing from the Korea Creative Content Agency.
Elixir of the Sun — Studio G.BABA
This one arrives with a built-in fanbase: it’s an adaptation of the webtoon and web novel of the same name, published on KakaoPage, centered on the fated romance between the unstable Emperor Dan and Bayan, a woman with extraordinary powers. Studio G.BABA is building it as a 2D, AI-assisted series targeting 20 episodes at roughly 12 minutes each. The studio’s track record gives the pitch weight — its earlier original IP “B-Family” won a 2024 Korea Content Award and recently landed a 2 billion won (about $1.3 million) Chinese investment for a second season.
Gigabuilder — Pingo Entertainment
A CGI kids’ series following Avin and his animal friends building a city on Mars through teamwork, “Gigabuilder” is the furthest along of the five: its first 20-episode season has already launched in select territories, a second season is already in production, and the IP already supports a toy and transformable-robot merchandise line. Pingo, which has built its slate across TV, gaming, and theatrical releases in under a decade, is using Annecy to line up broadcasters and streaming partners for wider distribution.
Makers Jam — GraFiziX
From a studio with more than two decades in children’s edutainment, “Makers Jam” traps a group of school kids in a time loop after a system malfunction, where they meet historical figures and use science to solve their way out — 26 episodes at 11 minutes each, built around an explicit goal stated by CEO Tony Hong: “We want the children to move from watching to making.”
Quantum Heroes Dinoster — Funny Flux
The veteran of the group: Funny Flux was founded in 2008 and says its catalog has reached over 160 countries and more than 10 billion YouTube views in eighteen years. Its newest pitch, now in a third season, follows multiverse heroes protecting dinosaurs and cities across dimensions, this time entering a civilized dinosaur world called Dinopia. It’s the kind of broad, merchandise-friendly action format that’s been the studio’s bread and butter for nearly two decades.
None of these five are guaranteed to become the next “Pucca” or break out the way Korean webtoon-to-screen adaptations have in live action. But the range on display — shamanistic horror-comedy, romantasy court intrigue, hard sci-fi for kids, and dinosaur multiverse action — says something about how regional Korean animation studios are betting their growth: not on one format, but on flooding international markets with enough distinct IP that something sticks.
Source: Variety, “5 Promising TV Animation IPs Brought to Annecy Market From Korea’s Gwangju,” June 24, 2026.
