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Each country has its own specialty when it comes to film, but the mainstay genres that form the backbone of just about every national cinema can be boiled down to drama, thriller and comedy. For its part, Korea has an abundant share of the first two, but while the third often features as a supporting player in mainstream productions, there are relatively few straight comedies that hit the local market.

Prior to the boom of modern Korean cinema in the 1990s, comedies, along with romantic dramas, were the most common films in the local industry but after Swiri (1999) broke open the gates and a generation of more technically and thematically daring filmmakers rose to the fore, the marquees of Korean theaters quickly began to show a greater diversity of films.

Comedies remained an important draw but these were generally coupled with romantic narratives, resulting in hits such as My Sassy Girl (2001), or crime elements, which led to a slew of gangster comedy franchises, such as the Marrying the Mafia (2002-2012), My Boss, My Hero (2001-2007), Mapado (2005-2007), Hi, Dharma! (2001-2004) and My Wife Is a Gangster (2001-2006) series.

Following the industry's lull that began in 2006, studios started to consolidate their efforts and, much like what has happened in Hollywood over the past few decades, increasingly focus on tentpole productions that mostly featured comedic elements, but could never exclusively be labeled as comedies.

It’s a little hard to definitively ascertain the number of commercial comedies that make it to screens each year, with several titles having it both ways, such as the runaway hit more-thriller-than-comedy A Violent Prosecutor in February. Recently, the number seems to come to around a dozen every year, though among these only half may receive a wide theatrical release. If we consider the two million viewer threshold as hit status and five million viewers as the superhit benchmark, the last five years have yielded 10 hits and an additional three superhits.

With a few weeks left to go, 2016 has released about 11 comedies (if we ignore films such as A Violent Prosecutor). Three of those, Familyhood (2.11 million viewers), Seondal: The Man who Sells the River (2.05 million viewers) and MY ANNOYING BROTHER (2.48 million viewers as of Dec 9) have achieved hit status, while LUCK-KEY has been a major success with seven million viewers, making it the sixth most successful local release of the year.

Late 2016, featuring the successful releases of LUCK-KEY and the still in theatres MY ANNOYING BROTHER has proven to be a particularly fertile ground for comedies. It could be due to coincidence or the general ebbs and flows of the industry, but there may also be some other factors at work behind this current resurgence.

One of these could be referred to as the continued maturation of the mainstream industry. As usual, investors are careful to select projects that don’t hew too close to any one genre, opting instead for screenplays that tick as many boxes as are necessary to waylay doubts of their commercial prospects. Yet after witnessing a steady stream of mid-level comedies score unexpected box office gold, such as Scandal Makers (2008 - 8.25 million viewers), Sunny (2011 - 7.36 million viewers) and Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2013 - 12.81 million viewers), studios began to recognize the potential of the genre as more than just a piece of the demographic puzzle. CJ Entertainment cleverly scheduled their family comedy Miss Granny for the Lunar New Year holiday in 2014 and watched the film confidently strut to 8.66 million viewers. 

Showbox had a similar strategy this year with LUCK-KEY. Based on the hit 2012 Japanese comedy Key of Life, the film features YOO Hae-jin as a hitman who loses his memory and unwittingly switches places with a failed actor played by LEE Joon. Placing emphasis on its action-thriller elements in its marketing, Showbox released the film in the fall corridor, which has of late been a fertile ground for dark genre fare. After scoring a strong debut the film’s warmth and humor gave it a bounty of positive word of mouth.

 

Early 2017 may well continue the streak of hit comedies, with two contenders scheduled to hit screens in January. The year’s first wide release will be Because I Love You, a multi-strand romantic comedy featuring CHA Tae-hyun, perhaps Korea’s only dependable comedy box office star (My Sassy Girl and Scandal Makers among many more), and rising teen star KIM You-jung. Following it will be Cooperation, the latest title from blockbuster production house JK Film (Ode to My Father, 2014). When announced, the film appeared to be a sober pan-Korean investigative thriller with Hyun-bin, but its recently begun marketing campaign hints at a broad comedy with action overtones, though this may in part be a strategy to capitalize on the recent success of co-star and LUCK-KEY lead YOO Hae-jin.

Yet beyond January it’s hard to say exactly how comedies will fare throughout next year. The one place we can be relatively certain to find humor will once again be blockbusters, and the supporting players who are known and loved by audiences across the country for their deadpan comedy. Having sold tickets to more films than any other Korean actor, character actor OH Dal-su is chief among this small group. While recent smash hits such as Ode to My Father, Assassination (2015), Veteran (2015) and Tunnel are not known as comedies, a big part of their appeal was their levity, which for the most part came from his honed comic timing and unique brand of affable exasperation. 

Perhaps tellingly, when OH finally took on a leading role this year in the comedy THE GREAT ACTOR, the film failed to find any kind of audience. Much like when they shop for the latest smartphone, the savvy modern Korean filmgoer generally needs more than one special feature to convince them to part with their hard-earned cash.