US entertainment giant Walt Disney will produce animation films in Japan in tie-ups with local studios in a rare move to adapt to regional tastes, a company official said on Thursday.
"We aim to provide products that match the taste of the local market," said Mariko Hisamitsu, an official in charge of the television business at Walt Disney Co. Japan.
The entertainment company's strategy has traditionally been to distribute the same US-made films around the world.
"We have few precedents for localisation," Hisamitsu said.
"Disney characters are well recognised in Japan and we believe providing contents catering to consumers is necessary to expand the market," she told AFP.
To begin with, the company plans to air a short children's film featuring a robot, produced jointly with Japan's biggest animation studio Toei Animation Co., on a satellite channel in May or June, she said.
"The main target is Japan but we don't deny the possibility" of exporting Japan-made products to other Asian countries, she said, adding nothing formal had been decided.
Films will be produced in Japan using local animation creators and computer graphics specialists and will not be outsourced to other Asian countries with cheaper labour, she said.
Disney also plans to team up with mid-sized studio Madhouse Ltd. to make a Japanese version of the popular US "Lilo and Stitch" series, but set in Japan, she said.
Disney launched a mobile phone service in Japan this month in cooperation with Softbank Corp., entering the tough Japanese cellular phone market following its withdrawal from the the United States.
Hisamitsu said cooperation between localised animation films and mobile business was yet to be decided.