PARASITE and CRASH LANDING ON YOU Producer Doubles Down on Content

During a major presentation last month, CJ ENM, the top content purveyor in South Korea, revealed its plans to commit KRW 5 trillion (USD 4.5 billion) to content over the next five years.

Kang Hosung, CJ ENM’s CEO, added that this year’s budget was already fixed at KRW 800 billion (USD 720 million). CJ ENM is active in film, TV, K-pop and musicals, and comprises the Oscar-winning studio and distributor CJ Entertainment, the drama series producer Studio Dragon, the cable channels tvN, OCN and Mnet, and the streaming service TVING.

In addition to expanding the production slates of those entities, CJ plans to form new production entities focusing on a variety of programming and animation. CJ’s content will be made available on TVING, which is currently only available in Korea but is forecasting eight million subscribers around the world by 2023.

"We will become a comprehensive entertainment company through diversifying content creating systems and meeting consumers' demands on a real-time basis," Kang explained, "and we will move on to the world stage and compete with global platform and media powerhouses."

It will also seek to boost its partnerships with global stakeholders. Its current partnerships include one with Skydance Media, which is preparing a remake of the tvN drama Hotel del Luna, and HBO Max, with which it is developing a competition series in Latin America.

In addition to Parasite (2019), winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and four prizes, including Best Picture at the Academy Awards, CJ is responsible for films such as The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008), Roaring Currents (2014), Veteran (2015) and The Handmaiden (2016).