Disney+ is making a concentrated bet on Japanese genre storytelling with Night Tales Club, a six-part supernatural mystery anthology set for January 2027. The streamer announced the project Wednesday with first-look images and a teaser.
The series adapts six stories by horror writer Ichi Sawamura. Each episode gets a different director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure), Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on), Shinzo Katayama (Gannibal), Yukiko Sode, Yuichiro Sakashita and Yosuke Nakamura.
Gold for a good ghost story
Takayuki Yamada, known globally for Netflix’s The Naked Director, plays Hojo, a wealthy entrepreneur who believes supernatural events are clues to a larger conspiracy. His character launches the titular Night Tales Club and offers 20 million yen, roughly $130,000, in gold to people who can share genuine evidence of the unexplained.
Kenji Nakajima, whose credits include The Naked Director, directs the framing sequences. Every episode follows a different account of the supernatural. Sawamura wrote the scripts, and Yusuke Wakabayashi and Teruhisa Yamamoto produce.
“As the original author of these stories, I feel an enormous sense of surprise and joy that they will soon be available on screen to scare audiences around the world!” Sawamura said.
Why this matters for the streaming business
The announcement is about more than one show. Disney+ is preparing to scale up international originals, and Japan is central to that plan. The company has said it will roughly triple its annual output of international original series over the next three years, from approximately 60 to 70 shows this year.
In April, Disney signed a multi-year development deal with TBS-owned The Seven to create more Japanese live-action originals. Earlier bets include Gannibal, which returned for a second season in 2025, and Land of Tanabata.
The anthology advantage
Horror anthologies are a useful format for a platform trying to build a Japan slate quickly. Six standalone episodes let Disney+ test multiple directors and storytelling styles within a single title, and horror travels across Asian and Western markets. Yamada’s casting also carries recognition from Netflix’s global audience, giving Disney+ a familiar face without leaning on a franchise.
The show’s central device, paying for supernatural evidence, also gives marketers a clean campaign hook: a price, a story and a mystery that can be cut into short social clips.
- Premiere: January 2027 on Disney+
- Format: Six episodes, six directors, one framing story
- Lead: Takayuki Yamada as Hojo
- In-fiction price: 20 million yen, about $130,000, in gold per account
- Pipeline: Disney plans to triple international original output in three years
For media planners and buyers, the January 2027 date puts this title in next year’s planning window. Japanese genre originals are becoming an early signal of Disney+’s international inventory, and the slate decisions being made now will shape where audiences and ad dollars move by 2027.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
