The Korean film industry has grown enormously. According to Korean Film Council (KOFIC)’s 2017 Korean Film Industry Report, last year, local theaters sold nearly 220 million tickets, once again making South Korea one of the countries with the highest per capita theater attendance in the world. Unfortunately, this also means that the Korean market has reached a saturation point where further growth could prove difficult. This conundrum has forced the Korean industry to set their sights on international expansion as they search for more audiences to consume their content. 

These days, in addition to the export of completed Korean films, the licensing of Korean intellectual property for foreign remakes has also become popular. Of course foreign remakes are nothing new for the Korean film industry. Since the turn of the millennium, international producers have attempted to remake popular Korean films for local audiences, with varying degrees of success. However, over the past 20 years things have changed. The Korean film industry has now grown to become one of the world’s most creative and profitable, and now carries the capital, marketing know-how and most importantly soft-power, to produce localized remakes of Korean films that can compete at the international level. 

 

The modernization of the Korean film industry in the late 1990s coincided with a time when Hollywood began to adapt Asian genre films for American audiences. The success of the American remakes of Ju-on: The Grudge (2002) and The Ring (1998) encouraged Hollywood producers to seek out more international intellectual properties to exploit for American audiences. However, early adaptations of South Korean films saw limited success in the United States. In 2008, the American remake of KIM Sung-ho’s 2003 horror film Into the Mirror went on to earn a respectable USD 77.5 million worldwide against a reported budget of USD 35 million. Helmed by French horror director Alexandre Aja, the film, which starred Kiefer Sutherland, deviated in plot from the original Korean version and received less than stellar reviews.

 

Roy LEE, one of the Hollywood producers responsible for introducing The Ring to American audiences, would try his hand at several American remakes of Korean films. First was the romantic drama The Lakehouse (2006), which was a remake of LEE Hyeon-seung’s classic time-hop love story Il Mare (2000). The film, which reunited Speed (1994) co-stars Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, earned a healthy USD 115 million at the international box office. Next, Roy LEE and his team produced a western remake of KWAK Jae-yong’s 2001 hit romantic comedy My Sassy Girl. However, the American version failed to acquire theatrical distribution and was released direct-to-DVD. LEE made three more attempts at releasing western remakes of Korean films which included Possession (2008), a remake of PARK Young-hoon’s Addicted (2002), The Uninvited (2009), a remake of KIM Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) and Old Boy (2003), Spike Lee’s remake of PARK Chan-wook’s classic neo-noir film of the same name. Though The Uninvited saw some financial success, none of the films achieved critical acclaim. 

 

The remakes of South Korean films in foreign countries more closely aligned with Korean culture fared better in the same time period. In 2005 Shinuchi Nagasaki directed a well-received Japanese remake of HUR Jin-ho’s seminal melodrama Christmas in August (1998). Other regional remakes that performed well include the acclaimed Rocky Handsome (2016) which is an Indian remake of LEE Jeong-beom’s The Man from Nowhere (2010), Memoirs of a Murderer, the Japanese remake of JUNG Byung-gil’s Confession of Murder (2012) that was released in June of 2017 and went on to top the Japanese box office for three consecutive weeks, on its way to accumulating JPY 2.4 billion(USD 22 million), and The Witness (2016), which is a Chinese remake of AHN Sang-hoon’s thriller Blind (2011) that brought in approximately USD 16 million. China has actually provided one of the greatest outlets for the remakes of Korean films. The FTA agreement signed between the two countries in 2015 made it easier for Korean films to enter the Chinese market and set off a flurry of Chinese investments in Korean content.

 

Outside of Asia, the lackluster results of early western remakes can be attributed to the fact that producers at the time were ill-prepared to adopt cinema across cultures that were as disparate as the east and west. While action and adventure can translate well between different cultures, other genres that rely on ingrained cultural elements presented more of a challenge. For example, The Uninvited received negative feedback from several western critics for its plot, yet the original movie, A Tale of Two Sisters, was based on a very popular Korean folk tale that has been adapted to film in Korea six times. 

 

These days, Korean film companies remain closely involved in the adaptation process to help ensure success for the foreign remakes of their intellectual property. Korea’s largest distributor and exhibitor CJ E&M now champions what it calls the ‘One Source, Multi-Territory’ strategy. With OSMT, CJ E&M directly localizes its own content for different foreign markets. CJ E&M looks at films that have flexible storylines that contain universal elements. A successful example of this model are the many adaptations of the film Miss Granny (2014). Released in 2014, HWANG Dong-hyuk’s comedy was a hit, welcoming 8.65 million viewers during its theatrical run. However the film may prove more valuable to CJ E&M internationally, as it has so far produced successful remakes for markets in China (20 Once Again, 2015), Vietnam (Sweet 20, 2015), Japan (Sing My Life, 2016), Thailand (Suddenly 20, 2016) and Indonesia (Sweet 20, 2017) while additional adaptations of the film are also planned for India, Germany and the Philippines. 

 

The North American market is set to receive two versions of Miss Granny, one for African-American viewers and another for Hispanic viewers. This detail shows that CJ E&M has gained a deep level of insight for developing their remakes for local audiences. The company recently announced that HUH Jung's urban-legend, mystery thriller Hide and Seek (2013), which revolves around a world of homeless people that secretly reside in people’s homes, will receive an American remake that will additionally include racial and socioeconomic conflicts, both of which are relevant and will make the story more compelling for local audiences. 

In addition to CJ E&M, other major Korean media companies are working to remake Korean stories for international audiences. NEW has been actively working with partners in China to produce localized versions of its most popular films while Showbox announced it would be collaborating with American production company Blumhouse as well as film companies in Southeast Asia to help spread its international footprint. Lotte Entertainment formed an alliance with GlobalGate, a subsidiary of Lionsgate Entertainment, to help with its efforts to export foreign remakes. Founded in 2016, GlobalGate is a consortium of nearly a dozen media companies from around the world that was specifically created for the purpose of discovering content from different countries to adapt for local film markets. Lotte Entertainment will serve as the group’s official Korean partner and is already using the group’s resources to create Korean content.

As the Korean film industry continues to grow in international prominence each year, the future outlook for foreign remakes of Korean films looks very promising.