Imagine Asia

Imagine Asia (Korean: 이매진아시아), previously called Wellmade Yedang, is a South Korean entertainment company founded in 1976. It works as a talent agency, television production firm, event manager, concert producer, and music publisher.

The business started out as Banpo Industries, a maker of industrial tents based in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. In 2000, it became Banpo Tech. Six years later, Banpo Tech merged with Star M Entertainment to form Star M, whose early actors included Shin Min-a, Jang Dong-gun, and Hyun Bin. The company went public on KOSDAQ in 2007. In 2008, it was renamed Wellmade Star M and moved its headquarters to Gangnam District, Seoul.

Wellmade Star M bought a majority stake in Dream T Entertainment in 2013. The next year, it merged with Yedang Company to create Wellmade Yedang. In 2015, it acquired 39% of YMC Entertainment, while its subsidiary Dream T Entertainment bought another 41%, giving the group an 80% majority. That same year, it also acquired Blue Star Entertainment. In March 2016, Yedang Entertainment was officially renamed Banana Culture, and Wellmade became Imagine Asia in June, though Wellmade Yedang continued as a separate company.

Imagine Asia’s subsidiaries include Dream T Entertainment, founded in 2009 by Lee Jong-suk and acquired in December 2013, which shut down in 2021. YMC Entertainment, founded in 2010 by Cho Yoo-myung, was acquired jointly with Dream T in July 2015 and closed by 2020. Blue Star Entertainment, founded by former Core Contents Media executives Byun Dong-jin and Park Chang-jae, was acquired in 2015.

The company’s divisions include Wellmade Film, a film and drama production company behind movies like *The Warrior’s Way* (2010), *The Yellow Sea* (2010), *As One* (2012), *The Show Must Go On* (2007), and *The Huntresses* (2014), as well as dramas such as *Soul Mechanic* (2020), *Doctor Prisoner* (2019), *The Third Charm* (2018), *Come and Hug Me* (2018), *Mad Dog* (2017), *Here Comes Mr Oh* (2011–2013), and *Couples Too Rosy* (2014–2015). Happy Campus Projects, led by CEO Jung Ah-reum, produced the dramas *Entertainer* (2016), *Wanted* (2016), and *Schoolgirl Detectives* (2014–2015). On Da Com, a multimedia production company, handles reality shows like *Dad!