Disney Headlines for August 19th, 2025
This week in Disney Headlines: you need to figure out what Webtoon is.
Also, what’s happening with D23? And is Disney really doing anime now? It’s admittedly a strange week for Disney stories.
What’s Webtoon?
Web Toon
In April, I suddenly got way into a book series called Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Like, I wear Dungeon Crawler Carl merchandise now and support author Matt Dinniman on Patreon.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Dude doesn’t need my five dollars, though. His book series absolutely exploded in popularity recently.
As proof, here’s a story about Seth MacFarlane’s production company gaining the rights to Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock (9672605ee)
This series consists of seven books, and I read all of them in a span of six weeks, no small feat when writing several thousand words a day.
I did so because I fell in love with this story, which only marginally involves Disney via the MacFarlane connection.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
The point is that my DCC addiction forced me to download an app I didn’t know called Webtoon.
As near as I can tell – and I’ve only been using it for about six weeks – it’s like an evolved comic book app.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
So, someone has taken DCC, turned it into a comic book, and then added music, some of it dramatic.
Webtoon apparently takes stories and adds a bit of mood-setting music to enrich your connection to the plot.I dunno. Listen, I’ve read like nine of these in my life. Don’t expect me to be some big expert.
Somehow, my recent download and app usage turned relevant to my day job when Disney signed up for the service.
Web Toon
Yes, Disney and Webtoon announced an agreement that absolutely spiked the latter company’s stock price.
At one point, the stock was up 97 percent, although it had lost half that growth by the end of the week.
Why Webtoon?
So, here’s the Webtoon trailer for DCC. Maybe it’ll help you conceptualize the appeal here:
Now imagine that for a bunch of Disney stories you love such as The Lion King and Tangled.
Photo: Disney
I’m merely speculating about those, with Disney, as usual, leaning hard on established brands.
The first Webtoon series are Star Wars, Amazing Spider-Man, and Disney As Old As Time: A Twisted Tale.
Photo: Disney
Importantly, you can buy the comic books of all these already, which is what makes the deal so unique.
Disney protects its intellectual properties more closely than Victor Wembanyama guards the paint.
Photo: Bank rate
As investment analysts at Raymond James aptly described the matter:
“The stamp of approval from Disney, who is typically very selective about the distribution of its IP, demonstrates the value of the Webtoon platform and the ties to its otherwise hard-to-reach audience.”
Image: The Healthy Mouse
Why did Disney make a rare exception here? Well, I can speak from experience when I say that Webtoon is really good.
Suffice to say, I was extremely skeptical when I tried an issue of DCC. Within ten minutes, I’d bought 1,000 coins.
WebToon
That’s the currency Webtoon uses for customers to buy the various comics. Webtoon is really, really good. Also – and this matters more to Disney – Webtoon currently claims 155 million monthly users.
Web Toon
Let’s be honest that a lot of those people are also Disney fans, giving your favorite company a new monetization outlet.
We can tell just from the stock impact how much this deal matters to Webtoon. It’s a game-changer.
Web Toon
Thus, we can be sure that Webtoon will do everything possible to maximize this new partnership.
I have no idea which way this will go, as some technology deals simply don’t work.
Based on what I’ve seen of Webtoon, though, I’m excited about this one.
The D23 Surprise
Destination D23 2025 begins in less than two weeks, which means this is the marketing machine’s moment.
Generally speaking, when Disney hosts huge events like this, the hype gets out of control.
Thus far, Destination D23 has remained relatively understated, though, and we just found out why.
Disney hasn’t announced a theme park panel for this year’s event. And that’s a WHOA! moment.
D23
Like, the appeal of D23 has been its park panel, which many consider the signature event.
Disney will host a panel entitled Disney Villains: Icons of Evil, so we’re still expecting news.
Photo: Disney
Presumably, park officials will provide details about the upcoming Villains Land at this panel.
Still, I think I speak for all of us when I say that the parks panel is why I care about D23 events.
Photo: Omelete
So, the lack of one here is glaring, especially with so many projects underway at the parks.
As we speak, construction is occurring at four of Disney’s six American theme parks.
Photo:visitorlando.com
The parks panel would have given us additional context regarding what to expect.
Since the entire purpose of the D23 Expo events is to build a buzz for upcoming Disney projects, this is a weird call.
Photo: The Walt Disney Company-
Josh D’Amaro (Chairman; Disney Parks, Experiences and Products)
Stay tuned to MickeyBlog as we track the story more. Disney may yet have an ace up its sleeve.
The Anime Conversation
Photo: Rappler
Now, we have our third odd story of the week, which involves Asian animation, not something we typically discuss here.
While my wife is into anime, I’m more of a traditionalist when it comes to animation.
Disney+
So, I rarely pay attention to this stuff. I guess I need to start being more alert since Disney just committed to it.
Currently, Disney rarely snags the licensing rights to international anime projects.
Hulu
You can check Hulu and Disney+ if you don’t believe me. Sure there are some, but it’s small potatoes for Disney.
That’s about to change. Bloomberg reported something last November that has suddenly become quite relevant.
Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
At the time, the report stated that a Korean series, Moving, had “blossomed into a global hit and earned more than 10 industry awards.”
What’s the big deal? The creator of that anime project is a South Korean artist who goes by Kang Full.
Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
What’s his profession? He creates webtoons. Just to be clear, that’s different from Webtoon, a brand.
Still, the gist is the same, and the implication is clear. Disney has decided that this is the new gold rush. Streaming executives get the numbers for anime viewers, and they know the deal.
Webtoon and anime content appeal more to Gen Z and Gen Alpha. So, for Disney to remain relevant, it needs to conquer this industry.
Image Credit: Disney
With Disney+ and Hulu merging next year, the latter service’s anime content becomes integral to Disney’s streaming strategy.
I’ve previously discussed the importance of adult animation. This is a variant of the same premise.
Getty
So, the next major licensing battle may very well be for a bunch of anime shows only teenagers would know.
Photo: MickeyBlog
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Feature Photo: D23
