Passion Paris, ADN partner for South Korean webtoon adaptation

Animation powerhouse Passion Paris (“400 Boys,” “Not a Box”) has teamed up with France-based anime SVOD service Animation Digital Network (ADN) to produce an adaptation of a high-profile South Korean webtoon.

An action series for adults, the webtoon that Passion and ADN are adapting has been viewed 80 million times worldwide, says Caroline Audebert, MD of Passion Paris.

Passion Paris and ADN aim to start production on the webtoon adaptation by the end of this year. The title of the webtoon will be announced on Wednesday during an Annecy Mifa market session, From China to Global Animation Synergy with Bilibili, where a teaser will be shown.

There is a natural synergy between Passion and ADN, Audebert said Variety on the eve of this year’s Annecy Festival and Mifa market.

“Passion is really focused on developing IPs and is very strong in animation talent. ADN has direct access to its audience and knows what it likes,” she said.

The Korean webtoon adaptation will be made in an anime style, they added. “The directors have been watching anime since birth. Much of Passion’s animation talent is inspired by anime. According to one study, 44% of our target group between 18 and 45 years old now watches anime,” said Audebert.

“The talent will bring a special western touch to the production, which the audience and streaming services will love [in Europe]“We’ll see this kind of anime-related stuff coming from talent here because it’s part of our culture now,” she predicted.

Passion restructures to seize new opportunities

The webtoon is not Passion Paris’s first foray into Asia. For example, it is already developing the animated series “Yojimbot,” an anime-adjacent Japanese robot-samurai saga based on the sci-fi comic series created by French author Sylvain Repos.

The ADN co-production marks the latest move from Passion Paris and Passion London, behind Netflix’s ‘Love, Death + Robots’ episodes ‘Life Hatch’, ‘Ice’ and ‘400 Boys’, plus Apple TV’s ‘Not a Box’.

It combines Passion’s extraordinary range of styles, IP resources and talent, which also sees Anna Mantzaris’ author’s new stop-motion short film ‘Please’ and preschool ‘Not a Box’, based on the picture book for children – respectively in competition and TV film selection at this year’s Annecy – or ‘Endless Space’, animated in Asian style and inspired by Amplitude’s video game, or ‘Burnham All’, a strange coming of age sitcom set in 1696. trials. A third Passion title, Anna Ginsburg’s SXSW winner “HAG,” has also been selected for Annecy.

A creative principle for the longer term, but where breadth is becoming increasingly necessary. In many ways, the ADN project and Passion’s slate in general mark a sign of and response to the times when anime is still booming, Korean webtoons are getting as many views as major Netflix TV hits, and yet orders from global streaming services and broadcasters’ purchases of traditional animation have fallen.

As territories’ tax breaks replace or complement traditional sources of financing, Passion Paris and Passion London have responded by creating an integrated development pipeline.

This axis also spans two of the countries with the most muscular production and VFX tax breaks in Europe.

Passion continues to have close relationships with broadcasters in France and Britain, said Debbie Crosscup, MD of Passion Pictures Animation in London.

“Having a studio in France and Great Britain gives us the opportunity to bring together all the elements we have in both countries, such as tax credits and subsidies, to create new intellectual property,” said Audebert.

An example of this: ‘Free Range’, selected for Toulouse’s Cartoon Forum 2026 and produced by Passion London and Passion Paris and the British Complete Fiction. The original intellectual property was developed jointly in London and Paris, making full use of both British and French financing structures and tax benefits.

“Free Range” “presented a really exciting opportunity to unlock a financial model and do it internally,” Crosscup said.

This new model will allow the companies to move fluidly between formats, partners and financing structures depending on where value and momentum can best be unlocked, Passion argued.

Like many top animation companies, Passion has always attracted talent from all over the world, with very fluid movement between the French and British teams.

“Given that talent is such a key focus at Passion, Caroline and I really want to build exciting teams of artists, innovators, storytellers and creators. We’re really excited to lean on this in the future – the funding and the talent – and figure out the right kind of collaboration,” Crosscup added.

Passion Paris and London will continue to strive for a mix of commercial intellectual property and author-led creative work, an emerging trend in the international animation industry.

“Balancing commercial opportunities with creative ambition is imperative as they build on diversification. Commercial intellectual property provides scale and sustainability, while author-led projects create differentiation, attract talent and build cultural value beyond individual productions,” Audebert enthuses.

A slightly closer look at Passion’s Annecy/Cartoon Forum slate:

“Apocalypse Mojito”

A YA comedy TV series by Julien Séze and Cédric Stéphan and Passion Paris, in which Yolo and Wazo are two friends who travel from village to city with their mobile guinguette (a typical French open-air café/dance floor) that brings fun and good mood everywhere. Very necessary considering they live in a post-apocalypse 2100 world devastated by climate change. Original Passion-IP, developed entirely in-house for the French public broadcaster France Télévisions, will be released this summer.

“Burnham all”

Betty Parish navigates love, life and friendship in the small and backwater village of Burnham, in 1696. An original animated series in development for a Kickstarter campaign.

“Endless space”

Co-produced by Passion Paris and Amplitude Studios, the acclaimed game developer, announced in Annecy in 2025 and inspired by the Endless gaming universe. Abandoned as a child on the dusty moon of Tersh, Ilona joins Starling and a group of ‘explorers’, hired to crack the heart of the wreck that Terse made famous. Its key “unlocks unknown secrets and unimaginable dangers… Ilona, ​​Tersh and this arm of the Galaxy will never be the same.”

“Free range”

The adventures of Buddy and Mac, the best friends of pigs and ducks, which “start small and recognizable and then inevitably spiral wildly out of control.” A fast-paced comedy announced in early June as a destination for Cartoon Forum in Toulouse and a prototype, in joint development and financing, of a much larger integration of Passion London and Paris.

“HAG”

Anna Ginsburg’s original animated short, produced by Strange Beast and Passion Pictures Animation London and winner of the SXSW 2026 Special Jury Award, now selected for Annecy’s short film competition. “A woman’s search for love and meaning in a hellscape of declining fertility, dating apps and the putrid stench of patriarchy,” the synopsis reads. “Recognizable and completely crazy in the best way,” said the SXSW jury. Passion now wants to produce a longer format.

“The lion within”

In development at Passion Pictures London, an animated special/series based on one of Rachel Bright and Jim Field’s bestselling books with a heartwarming story – just look at the artwork – “about self-confidence, self-esteem and a shy little mouse’s journey to find his roar.” “Passion loves original IP and is committed to finding the best original stories and creating IP,” says Crosscup, citing “The Lion Inside.”

“Please”

Stop-motion films, captured by a fixed camera, character vignettes of lonely souls looking for love but, as director Anna Mantzaris notes, not quite finding it yet. Gracious and compassionate comedy that features the latest from Mantzaris (“Good Intentions,” “But Milk Is Important”), with one character voiced by “Sentimental Value” star Stellan Skarsgard. Produced by Apparat Filmproduktion with Passion Paris Production, Arte, Film i Väst, SVT, Mikrofilm AS and Kuli Film, in collaboration with YLE and Böhle Studio. Miyu handles international sales.

“Yojimbot”

The Logline: On a walled island in near-future Japan, a young boy escapes captivity after murdering his father with the help of outdated samurai-themed amusement park robots. Ruthlessly hunted by his father’s killers, he begins a fight to survive and reveal the truth. An animated series based on the dystopian comic book with a lot of action, by the French Sylvain Repos, published by Dargaud.