Thailand’s Artop Media Rides Wave of Adaptations at FilMart

In remaking local versions of Thai and Chinese language content Bangkok- and Beijing-based Artop Media may have lucked onto one of the hottest trends of the moment in the Asian TV space.

That’s because Thai content is increasingly successful on mainland Chinese streaming networks, and, as multiple speakers have noted in the first two day of FilMart, Thai content is increasingly working across East and Southeast Asia too.

At FilMart this week Artop is pitching currently in-production series “My Lucky Star” an adaptation of an earlier Taiwanese show. The new version is directed by Pantham Thonsang, well known as a producer and line producer of films including “Shutter,” and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Tropical Malady” and “Syndromes and a Century.” It stars Thanapat Kawila and Anchasa Mongkhonsamai (Bifern) as the male and female leads.

For 2021, it also has 2021 “Meow Ears up!” which was previously a novel in China and an anime in Japan that is now being made as a Thai limited series (eight episodes of 45 mins each). Thenstory focuses on un uncommunicative manga artist whose life is transformed by encounters with a boy with cat ears. The show is directed by director Phadung “Lit” Samajarn (“SOTUS”) and has already found broadcast homes on AIS Play in Thailand, BiliBili in China and TV Tokyo in Japan.

Artop’s previously-completed works are also on display at FilMart. The include “Frog Prince” (aka “The Prince Who Turns into a Frog”), a recent Thai adaptation of a well-known Taiwanese series originally broadcast in 2011. The modern-day romantic drama contains story lines about a property sales agent, amnesia, real estate skullduggery and criss-cross love lives. The 26-part Thai version is directed by Peerapol Kirdjareun with a cast that is headed by Vill Wannarot Sonthichai and Son Yuke Songpaisan. It went to air in Thailand on GMM One and on Tencent’s WeTV in January.

Artop is also showing “In Time with You,” which is another Taiwan to Thai adaptation in the romance genre. It already broadcast in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, with Thailand set to screen it on PPTV from next week (March 24, 2021.) The contemporary story concerns two friends, one male one female, who go all out to look for a life partner, ignoring what they might have already had together. Available as 24 60-minute episodes, it stars famous Thai actor Pae Arak and actress Mo Monchanok.

Its other previously completed series “Fleet of time” has been a best-seller. A book to series adaptation, it has now stretched to a Chinese feature film, a Chinese series and latterly a Thai series. The Thai version has been translated into 13 languages and is currently playing on platforms including Tencent, iQiyi and Bilibili in China), Dim Sum in Malaysia, Line TV and Netflix in Taiwan, Viu and Now in Hong Kong and Macau; KT, SK, LG Homechoice, Sky in South Korea and on Viki for the U.S., Europe, Middle East and India.

Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!