Disney+ has unveiled 'Night Tales Club,' a six-part Japanese supernatural anthology series featuring prominent genre directors, set for a January 2027 premiere.
Key facts
- •The series is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ and Hulu in January 2027.
- •Takayuki Yamada plays the lead character, Hojo, who investigates supernatural 'bugs' or glitches.
- •Participants in the Night Tales Club are offered 20 million yen in gold for sharing evidence of the inexplicable.
- •The series features six distinct episodes, each helmed by a different director, including Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Takashi Shimizu.
- •Author Ichi Sawamura wrote the scripts for the series based on his original collection of horror stories.
Disney+ has announced a new six-part Japanese horror anthology series titled Night Tales Club, scheduled to premiere in January 2027. The series features a collection of supernatural stories adapted from the work of author Ichi Sawamura, with each episode directed by a different filmmaker. Takayuki Yamada stars as Hojo, a wealthy entrepreneur who investigates paranormal phenomena.
Plot and Production Details
The series centers on Hojo, a businessman who believes that supernatural occurrences like ghosts, curses, and monsters are 'bugs' that reveal a deeper conspiracy. To investigate these anomalies, Hojo establishes the 'Night Tales Club,' where he invites individuals to share firsthand accounts of the inexplicable. In exchange for their stories and evidence, participants are offered 20 million yen in gold. The framing sequences featuring Yamada are directed by Kenji Nakajima, known for his work on The Naked Director and Tokyo Swindlers. Each of the six episodes adapts a different story from Ichi Sawamura’s collection, with Sawamura also serving as the screenwriter for the series. The project is produced by Yusuke Wakabayashi and Teruhisa Yamamoto.
Director Lineup and Strategic Expansion
The anthology features a roster of acclaimed Japanese directors, including Kiyoshi Kurosawa, known for Cure and Wife of a Spy, and Takashi Shimizu, the director of Ju-on. Other directors contributing to the series include Shinzo Katayama, Yukiko Sode, Yuichiro Sakashita, and Yosuke Nakamura. Each filmmaker is responsible for one episode of the anthology. Night Tales Club is part of Disney’s broader strategy to expand its international original programming, with a specific focus on increasing its output from Japan. The company aims to roughly triple its annual production of international original series over the next three years. This initiative follows previous collaborations with Japanese partners, including a multi-year development agreement with the production company The Seven.
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This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by Hollywood Reporter, Variety.
