Utopai East Acquires Seoul-based Alquimista Media, Establishing a Fully Owned Studio in Korea

The Utopai Studios joint venture takes 100 percent ownership of the acclaimed Korean studio and its active slate, marking the operational launch of Utopai East in one of the world’s most influential entertainment markets

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Utopai East today announced it has acquired 100 percent of Seoul-based Alquimista Media, a respected Korean production company with an active slate of scripted television and feature film projects. Utopai East was launched through a joint venture led by Utopai Studios, a technology hub for video storytelling that develops cinematic AI tools to support narrative creation across formats and platforms. Utopai East is focused on producing the next generation of premium film and television, beginning with Korean and Japanese intellectual property developed for international audiences, including projects designed to scale into major global franchises. It will be among the first to bring AI-enabled content for global theatrical release as well as distribution through television and streaming platforms.

The acquisition gives Utopai East immediate depth and scale across an active pipeline of 15 scripted television series and feature films already in development at Alquimista Media. The slate spans established genres including action and spy thrillers, crime and supernatural stories, fantasy and science fiction, romantic comedies, family titles, and period projects, while also actively expanding into new genres and formats, with all projects developed for international audiences. Among Alquimista Media's recent projects, Bedford Park was produced in association with the studio, with Hyun Park, founder and CEO, serving as Executive Producer. The film premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Debut Feature and was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics.

Alquimista Media’s team will lead development and production in Korea under the Utopai East banner. Alquimista Media is known for developing premium scripted television and film. The company’s core mission is to combine Korean storytelling with international creative talent, including intellectual property, writers, directors, actors, and producers, to create series and films with local, regional, and global appeal. Park will continue to oversee local development and production as the studio advances a growing slate of regional intellectual property.

“We are building Utopai East to define the next era of global entertainment,” said Kevin Chong, CEO of Utopai East. “We are truly excited to launch with the Alquimista Media team in Korea, one of the most powerful creative engines in the world today, and lay the foundation to build a global studio platform that combines world-class storytelling with advanced AI production infrastructure.”

“Becoming part of Utopai East allows us to scale our creative ambitions globally while staying true to the DNA of Korean and Asian storytelling,” said Park. “We’re excited to empower our creators with Utopai Studios’ AI technology platform to unlock bolder and more expansive storytelling. At a time when meaningful investment and long-term conviction are increasingly rare, we’re deeply grateful to Utopai East for doubling down on our stories and creators. It strongly signals commitment and confidence in the region’s creative future.”

Park is an international media executive and television producer with more than two decades of experience across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, having held senior leadership roles at CJENM’s Studio Dragon, as Head of the Global Division, as well as co-Head of Warner Bros. Korea and co-founder of US based streaming platform DramaFever. He is joined by Wonjo Jeong, former Head of Development at Apple TV+ Korea and EVP at Moho Films, whose credits include The Handmaiden, Stoker and the BBC series Little Drummer Girl, and Jeongdo Jang, former EP at Studio Dragon with over 30 credits to his name, including the hit TV dramas Our Blues, Alchemy of Souls, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? and Live.

“We are excited to have Hyun and his team join the Utopai family, as Korea is one of the most important creative markets in the world. This acquisition is about supporting great storytellers at scale,” said Cecilia Shen, co-founder and CEO of Utopai Studios. “By combining an established creative team and slate with the production technology we’ve been building, we’re focused on helping projects move from development through production more efficiently, without compromising the creative process.”

Utopai East is building a global production platform designed to originate and scale premium intellectual property for the global market. The company aims to accelerate the creation of internationally resonant franchises across film, television, and animation, positioning Utopai East as a next-gen studio at the intersection of storytelling, technology, and cultural export.

For more information about Utopai Studios and Utopai East, please visit https://www.utopaistudios.com/.

About Utopai East Studios
Utopai East is a film and television studio focused on developing and producing premium scripted content for global audiences. Launched through a joint venture led by Utopai Studios, the company is centered on building the next generation of internationally scalable intellectual property, beginning with Korean and Japanese stories and expanding across Asia over time. Utopai East works with creative partners and production teams across markets to develop original film, television, and animation projects for release on global streaming platforms and in theaters worldwide.

About Alquimista Media
Alquimista Media is a Seoul-based Korean production company led by founder and CEO Hyun Park. With a strong track record in film and television development and close relationships with leading writers, directors, and creators, the team, with backgrounds at Warner Bros., CJENM’s Studio Dragon, Apple TV+, and Moho Films, brings media vast experience across globally oriented Korean content.

About Utopai Studios
Utopai Studios, based in Mountain View, Calif., is a tech hub for video storytelling, building a state-of-the-art cinematic video generation model and agentic workflow to support narrative creation across formats, audiences, and platforms, and giving creators the power to tell epic stories as they were meant to be told. Purpose-built for video storytelling, the company’s model emphasizes consistency, controllability, and narrative fidelity at its core, enabling creators to maintain coherence across scenes, characters, and extended works. Utopai Studios is co-producing with Ex Machina Studios on its feature film “Cortés” and the science-fiction series “Space Nation”, the first large-scale narrative film and series projects, currently in production, to integrate AI technology directly into professional, audience-facing storytelling workflows. Through its technology and studio partnerships, Utopai Studios supports video storytelling across film, television, and emerging digital platforms worldwide.